Washington, November 18, 1807.
Sir,—I received on the 14th instant your favor of August 31, and I beg you to assure my fellow citizens of the Baptist church of Newhope meeting-house, that I learn with great satisfaction their approbation of the principles which have guided the present administration of the government. To cherish and maintain the rights and liberties of our citizens, and to ward from them the burthens, the miseries, and the crimes of war, by a just and friendly conduct towards all nations, were among the most obvious and important duties of those to whom the management of their public interests have been confided; and happy shall we be if a conduct guided by these views on our part, shall secure to us a reciprocation of peace and justice from other nations.
Among the most inestimable of our blessings, also, is that you so justly particularize, of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to his will; a liberty deemed inother counties incompatible with good government, and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.
Your confidence in my dispositions to befriend every human right is highly grateful to me, and is rendered the more so by a consciousness that these dispositions have been sincerely entertained and pursued. I am thankful for the kindness expressed towards me personally, and pray you to return to the society in whose name you have addressed me, my best wishes for their happiness and prosperity; and to accept for yourself assurances of my great esteem and respect.
Washington, December 1, 1807.
Sir,—The Secretary of State has communicated to me your letter to him of the 14th of November, covering the resolutions of the General Assembly of Vermont of the 4th of the same month.
The sentiments expressed by the General Assembly of Vermont on the late hostile attack on the Chesapeake by the Leopard ship-of-war, as well as on other violations of our maritime and territorial rights, are worthy of their known patriotism; and their readiness to rally around the constituted authorities of their country, and to support its rights with their lives and fortunes, is the more honorable to them as exposed by their position, in front of the contest. The issue of the present misunderstandings cannot now be foreseen; but the measures adopted for their settlement have been sincerely directed to maintain the rights, the honor, the peace of our country; and the approbation of them expressed by the General Assembly is to me a confirmation of their correctness.
The confidence they are pleased to declare in my personal care of the public interests, is highly gratifying to me, and gives a new claim to everything which zeal can effect for their service.
I beg leave to tender to the General Assembly of Vermont, and to yourself, the assurances of my high consideration and respect.
December 10, 1807.
I received in due season theaddressof the Legislature of Vermont, bearing date the 5th of November 1806, in which, with their approbation of the general course of my administration, they were so good as to express their desire that I would consent to be proposed again, to the public voice, on the expiration of my present term of office. Entertaining, as I do, for the legislature of Vermont those sentiments of high respect which would have prompted an immediate answer, I was certain, nevertheless, they would approve a delay which had for its object to avoid a premature agitation of the public mind, on a subject so interesting as the election of a chief magistrate.
That I should lay down my charge at a proper period, is as much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years, will, in fact, become for life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative government, responsible at short periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle; and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish the first example of prolongation beyond the second term of office.
Truth, also, requires me to add, that I am sensible of that decline which advancing years bring on; and feeling their physical, I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the first to perceive and to obey this admonition of nature, and to solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of age.
For the approbation which the legislature of Vermont has been pleased to express of the principles and measures pursued in the management of their affairs, I am sincerely thankful; and should I be so fortunate as to carry into retirement the equal approbationand good will of my fellow citizens generally, it will be the comfort of my future days, and will close a service of forty years with the only reward it ever wished.
"Addresses approving the general course of his administration, were also received from Georgia, December 6th, 1806; from Rhode Island, February 27th, 1807; from New York, March 13th, 1807; from Pennsylvania, March 13th, 1807; and from Maryland, January 3d, 1807; to all which answers like that sent to Vermont, were returned."—Ed.
December 10, 1807.
The sentiments, fellow citizens, which you are pleased to express in your address of the 4th inst., of attachment and esteem for the general government, and of confidence and approbation of those who direct its councils, cannot but be pleasing to the friends of union generally, and give a new claim on all those who direct the public affairs, for everything which zeal can effect for the good of their country.
It is indeed to be deplored that distant as we are from the storms and convulsions which agitate the European world, the pursuit of an honest neutrality, beyond the reach of reproach, has been insufficient to secure to us the certain enjoyment of peace with those whose interests as well as ours would be promoted by it. What will be the issue of present misunderstandings cannot as yet be foreseen; but the measures adopted for their settlement have been sincerely directed to maintain the rights, the honor, and the peace of our country. Should they fail, the ardor of our citizens to obey the summons of their country, and the offer which you attest, of their lives and fortunes in its support, are worthy of their patriotism, and are pledges of our safety.
The suppression of the late conspiracy by the hand of the people, uplifted to destroy it whenever it reared its head, manifeststheir fitness for self-government, and the power of a nation, of which every individual feels that his own will is a part of the public authority.
The effect of the public contributions in reducing the national debt, and liberating our resources from the canker of interest, has been so far salutary, and encourages us to continue in the same course; or, if necessarily interrupted, to resume it as soon as practicable.
I perceive with sincere pleasure that my conduct in the chief magistracy has so far met your approbation, that my continuance in that office, after its present term, would be acceptable to you. But that I should lay down my charge at a proper period is as much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years, will, in fact, become for life, and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative government, responsible at short periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle; and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish the first example of prolongation beyond the second term of office.
Truth also obliges me to add, that I am sensible of that decline which advancing years bring on, and feeling their physical, I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the first to perceive and to obey this admonition of nature, and to solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of age.
Declining a re-election on grounds which cannot but be approved, I am sincerely thankful for the approbation which the Legislature of New Jersey are pleased to manifest of the principles and measures pursued in the management of their affairs; and should I be so fortunate as to carry into retirement the equal approbation and good will of my fellow citizens generally, it will be the comfort of my future days, and will close a service of forty years with the only reward it ever wished.
December 14, 1807.
The appearances for some time past, threatening our peace, fellow citizens, have justly excited a general anxiety; and I have been happy to receive from every quarter of the Union the most satisfactory assurances of fidelity to our country, and of devotion to the support of its rights. Your concurrence in these sentiments, expressed in the address you have been pleased to present me, is a proof of your patriotism, and of that firm spirit which constitutes the ultimate appeal of nations. What will be the issue of present misunderstandings, is, as yet, unknown. But, willing ourselves to do justice to others, we ought to expect it from them. If any among us view erroneously the rights which late events have brought into question, let us hope that they will be corrected by the further investigation of reason; but, at all events, that they will acquiesce in what their country shall authoritatively decide, and arrange themselves faithfully under the banners of the law.
Your approbation of the measures which have been pursued, is a pleasing confirmation of their correctness; and, with particular thankfulness for the kind expressions of your address towards myself personally, I reciprocate sincere wishes for your welfare.
December 21st, 1807.
I have duly received, fellow citizens, the address of October 21st, which you have been so kind as to forward me on the part of the society of Baptists, of the Appomatox Association, and it is with great satisfaction when I learn from my constituents that the measures pursued in the administration of their affairs, during the time I have occupied the presidential chair, have met their approbation. Of the wisdom of these measures, it belongs to others to judge; that they have always been dictated by a desire to do what should be most for the public good, I may conscientiouslyaffirm. Believing that a definite period of retiring from this station will tend materially to secure our elective form of government; and sensible, too, of that decline which advancing years bring on, I have felt it a duty to withdraw at the close of my present term of office; and to strengthen by practice a principle which I deem salutary. That others may be found whose talents and integrity render them proper deposits of the public liberty and interests, and who have made themselves known by their eminent services, we can all affirm, of our personal knowledge. To us it will belong, fellow citizens, when their country shall have called them to its helm, to give them our support while there, to facilitate their honest efforts for the public good, even where other measures might seem to us more direct, to strengthen the arm of our country by union under them, and to reserve ourselves for judging them at the constitutional period of election.
I pray you to tender to your society, of which you are a committee, my thanks for the indulgence with which they have viewed my conduct, with the assurance of my high respect, and to accept yourselves my friendly and respectful salutations.
January 10, 1808.
The wrongs our country has suffered, fellow citizens, by violations of those moral rules which the Author of our nature has implanted in man as the law of his nature, to govern him in his associated, as well as individual character, have been such as justly to excite the sensibilities you express, and a deep abhorrence at indications threatening a substitution of power for right in the intercourse between nations. Not less worthy of your indignation have been the machinations of parricides who have endeavored to bring into danger the union of these States, and to subvert, for the purposes of inordinate ambition, a government founded in the will of its citizens, and directed to no object but their happiness.
I learn, with the liveliest sentiments of gratitude and respect, your approbation of my conduct, in the various charges which my country has been pleased to confide to me at different times; and especially that the administration of our public affairs, since my accession to the chief magistracy, has been so far satisfactory, that my continuance in that office after its present term, would be acceptable to you. But, that I should lay down my charge at a proper period, is as much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years, will in fact become for life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative government, responsible at short periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle; and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish the first example of prolongation beyond the second term of office.
Truth also obliges me to add, that I am sensible of that decline which advancing years bring on; and feeling their physical, I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the first to perceive and obey this admonition of nature, and to solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of age.
Declining a re-election on grounds which cannot but be approved, it will be the great comfort of my future days, and the satisfactory reward of a service of forty years, to carry into retirement such testimonies as you have been pleased to give, of the approbation and good will of my fellow citizens generally. And I supplicate the Being in whose hands we all are, to preserve our country in freedom and independence, and to bestow on yourselves the blessings of his favor.
February 29, 1808.
I have received your address, fellow citizens, and, thankful for the expressions so personally gratifying to myself, I contemplate with high satisfaction the ardent spirit it breathes of love to our country, and of devotion to its liberty and independence. The crisis in which it is placed, cannot but be unwelcome to those who love peace, yet spurn at a tame submission to wrong. So fortunately remote from the theatre of European contests, and carefully avoiding to implicate ourselves in them, we had a right to hope for an exemption from the calamities which have afflicted the contending nations, and to be permitted unoffendingly to pursue paths of industry and peace.
But the ocean, which, like the air, is the common birth-right of mankind, is arbitrarily wrested from us, and maxims consecrated by time, by usage, and by an universal sense of right, are trampled on by superior force. To give time for this demoralizing tempest to pass over, one measure only remained which might cover our beloved country from its overwhelming fury: an appeal to the deliberate understanding of our fellow citizens in a cessation of all intercourse with the belligerent nations, until it can be resumed under the protection of a returning sense of the moral obligations which constitute a law for nations as well as individuals. There can be no question, in a mind truly American, whether it is best to send our citizens and property into certain captivity, and then wage war for their recovery, or to keep them at home, and to turn seriously to that policy which plants the manufacturer and the husbandman side by side, and establishes at the door of every one that exchange of mutual labors and comforts, which we have hitherto sought in distant regions, and under perpetual risk of broils with them. Between these alternatives your address has soundly decided, and I doubt not your aid, and that of every real and faithful citizen, towards carrying into effect the measures of your country, and enforcingthe sacred principle, that in opposing foreign wrong there must be but one mind.
I receive with sensibility your kind prayers for my future happiness, and I supplicate a protecting providence to watch over your own and our country's freedom and welfare.
May 25, 1808.
The epoch, fellow citizens, into which our lot has fallen, has indeed been fruitful of events, which require vigilance, and embarrass deliberation. That during such a period of difficulty, and amidst the perils surrounding us, the public measures which have been pursued should meet your approbation, is a source of great satisfaction. It was not expected in this age, that nations so honorably distinguished by their advances in science and civilization, would suddenly cast away the esteem they had merited from the world, and, revolting from the empire of morality, assume a character in history, which all the tears of their posterity will never wash from its pages. But during this delirium of the warring powers, the ocean having become a field of lawless violence, a suspension of our navigation for a time was equally necessary to avoid contest, or enter it with advantage. This measure will, indeed, produce some temporary inconvenience; but promises lasting good by promoting among ourselves the establishment of manufactures hitherto sought abroad, at the risk of collisions no longer regulated by the laws of reason or morality.
It is to be lamented that any of our citizens, not thinking with the mass of the nation as to the principles of our government, or of its administration, and seeing all its proceedings with a prejudiced eye, should so misconceive and misrepresent our situation as to encourage aggressions from foreign nations. Our expectation is, that their distempered views will be understood by others as they are by ourselves; but should wars be the consequence of these delusions, and the errors of our dissatisfied citizens findatonement only in the blood of their sounder brethren, we must meet it as an evil necessarily flowing from that liberty of speaking and writing which guards our other liberties; and I have entire confidence in the assurances that your ardor will be animated, in the conflicts brought on, by considerations of the necessity, honor, and justice of our cause.
I sincerely thank you, fellow citizens, for the concern you so kindly express for my future happiness. It is a high and abundant reward for endeavors to be useful; and I supplicate the care of Providence over the well-being of yourselves and our beloved country.
Washington, June 18, 1808.
I received, fellow citizens, with a just sensibility, the expressions of esteem and approbation, communicated in your kind address of the 29th of March, and am thankful for them. The motives which have led to my retirement from office were dictated by a sense of duty, and will, I trust, be approved by my fellow citizens generally.
It is, indeed, a source of real concern that an impartial neutrality scrupulously observed towards the belligerent nations of Europe, has not been sufficient to protect us against encroachments on our rights; and, although deprecating war, should no alternative be presented us but disgraceful submission to unlawful pretensions, I have entire confidence in your assurances that you will cheerfully submit to whatever sacrifices and privations may be necessary for vindicating the rights, the honor, and independence of our nation.
Far from a disposition to avail ourselves of the peculiar situation of any belligerent nation to ask concessions incompatible with their rights, with justice, or reciprocity, we have never proposed to any the sacrifice of a single right; and in consideration of existing circumstances, we have ever been willing, where our duty to other nations permitted us, to relax for a time, and insome cases, that strictness of right which the laws of nature, the acknowledgments of the civilized world, and the equality and independence of nations entitle us to. Should, therefore, excessive and continued injury compel at length a resort to the means of self-redress, we are strong in the consciousness that no wrong committed on our part, no precipitancy in repelling the wrongs committed by others, no want of moderation in our exactions of voluntary justice, but undeniable aggressions on us, and the avowed purpose of continuing them, will have produced a recurrence so little consonant with our principles or inclinations.
To carry with me into retirement the approbation and esteem of my fellow citizens, will, indeed, be the highest reward they can confer on me, and certainly the only one I have ever desired. I invoke the favor of heaven, fellow citizens, towards yourselves and our beloved country.
August 2, 1808.
In the review, fellow citizens, which, in your address of the 14th of June, you have taken of the measures pursued since I have been charged with their direction, I read with great satisfaction and thankfulness, the approbation you have bestowed on them; and I feel it an ample reward for any services I may have been able to render.
The present moment is certainly eventful, and one which peculiarly requires that the bond of confederation connecting us as a nation should receive all the strength which unanimity between the national councils and the State legislatures can give it.
The depredations committed on our vessels and property on the high seas, the violences to the persons of our citizens employed on that element, had long been the subject of remonstrance and complaint, when, instead of reparation, new declarations of wrong are issued, subjecting our navigation to general plunder. In this state of things our first duty was to withdraw our sea-faring citizens and property from abroad, and to keep athome resources so valuable at all times, and so essential, if resort must ultimately be had to force.
It gave us time, too, to make a last appeal to the reason and reputation of nations. In the meanwhile I see with satisfaction that this measure of self-denial is approved and supported by the great body of our real citizens; that they meet with cheerfulness the temporary privations it occasions, and are preparing with spirit to provide for themselves those comforts and conveniences of life, for which it would be unwise evermore to recur to distant countries. How long this course may be preferable to a more serious appeal, must depend for decision on the wisdom of the legislature; unless, indeed, a return to established principles should remove the existing obstacles to a peaceable intercourse with foreign nations. In every event, fellow citizens, my confidence is entire that your resolution to maintain our national independence and sovereignty will be as firm as it has been forbearing; and looking back on our history, I am assured by the past, that its future pages will present nothing unworthy of the former.
I am happy that you approve of the motives of my retirement. I shall carry into it ardent prayers for the welfare of my country, and the sincerest wishes for that of yourselves personally.
August 2, 1808.
I received in due time your favor of June 24th, covering the address of the House of Representatives and Senate of New Hampshire, and I ask leave, through the same channel, to return the enclosed answer, to be communicated to them in whatever way you think most acceptable. Highly gratified by this approbation of the legislature of your State, as it respects myself personally, the moment at which it is expressed gives it peculiar value as a public document. It is the testimony of a respectable legislature in favor of a measure submitting our fellow citizens to some present sufferings to preserve them from future andgreater, and cannot fail to strengthen the disposition to maintain it which I am happy to perceive is so general. I tender you my affectionate salutations, and with every wish for your health and happiness, the assurance of my high respect and consideration.
Monticello, August 2, 1808.
My Dear Sir,—The enclosed are formal, and for the public; but in sending them to you I cannot omit the occasion of indulging my friendship in a more familiar way, and of recalling myself to your recollection. How much have I wished to have had you still with us through the years of my employment at Washington. I have seen with great pleasure the moderation and circumspection with which you have been kind enough to act under my letter of May 6th, and I have been highly gratified with the late general expressions of public sentiment in favor of a measure which alone could have saved us from immediate war, and give time to call home eighty millions of property, twenty or thirty thousand seamen, and two thousand vessels. These are now nearly at home, and furnish a great capital, much of which will go into manufactures and seamen to man a fleet of privateers, whenever our citizens shall prefer war to a longer continuance of the embargo. Perhaps, however, the whale of the ocean may be tired of the solitude it has made on that element, and return to honest principles, and his brother robber on the land may see that, as to us, the grapes are sour. I think one war enough for the life of one man; and you and I have gone through one which at least may lessen our impatience to embark in another. Still, if it becomes necessary, we must meet it like men, old men indeed, but yet good for something. But whether in peace or war, may you have as many years of life as you desire, with health and prosperity to make them happy years. I salute you with constant affection and great esteem and respect.
Monticello, August 4, 1808.
Sir,—I have duly received your letter of July 6th, covering the resolutions of the legislature of South Carolina of June 29th, and I see in those resolutions a new manifestation of the national spirit of which South Carolina has given so many proofs. It is the more exemplary, as it is certain that no State sacrifices more by the operation of a measure which, whether to avoid war, or to prepare for it, has been deemed equally necessary. The unanimity too of these resolutions, does peculiar honor to those individuals, who differing from the mass of their fellow citizens in their opinions of government, yet forget all differences when the rights of their country are in question; who when it is assailed by foreign wrong, and menaced with the evils of war, instead of encouraging enemies by forebodings of weakness and division, present to them one common and undivided front. Persuaded that the sentiments expressed in these resolutions are a true specimen of those entertained by the great mass of our fellow citizens, we may regret the evils which a contrary opinion in others may produce, but we cannot fear the result of any trial they may put us to.
I receive with particular gratification assurances of approbation from the legislature of South Carolina, and will not cease in my endeavors to merit a continuance of it. I pray you to accept my salutations and assurances of great respect and consideration.
August 26, 1808.
Your representation and request were received on the 22d inst., and have been considered with the attention due to every expression of the sentiments and feelings of so respectable a body of my fellow citizens. No person has seen, with more concernthan myself, the inconveniences brought on our country in general by the circumstances of the times in which we happen to live; times to which the history of nations presents no parallel. For years we have been looking as spectators on our brethren of Europe, afflicted by all those evils which necessarily follow an abandonment of the moral rules which bind men and nations together. Connected with them in friendship and commerce, we have happily so far kept aloof from their calamitous conflicts, by a steady observance of justice towards all, by much forbearance and multiplied sacrifices. At length, however, all regard to the rights of others having been thrown aside, the belligerent powers have beset the highway of commercial intercourse with edicts which, taken together, expose our commerce and mariners, under almost every destination, a prey to their fleets and armies. Each party, indeed, would admit our commerce with themselves, with the view of associating us in their war against the other. But we have wished war with neither. Under these circumstances were passed the laws of which you complain, by those delegated to exercise the powers of legislation for you, with every sympathy of a common interest in exercising them faithfully. In reviewing these measures, therefore, we should advert to the difficulties out of which a choice was of necessity to be made. To have submitted our rightful commerce to prohibitions and tributary exactions from others, would have been to surrender our independence. To resist them by arms was war, without consulting the state of things or the choice of the nation. The alternative preferred by the legislature of suspending a commerce placed under such unexampled difficulties, besides saving to our citizens their property, and our mariners to their country, has the peculiar advantage of giving time to the belligerent nations to revise a conduct as contrary to their interests as it is to our rights.
"In the event of such peace, or suspension of hostilities between the belligerent powers of Europe, or of such change in their measures affecting neutral commerce, as may render that of the United States sufficiently safe, in the judgment of the President," he is authorized to suspend the embargo. But nopeace or suspension of hostilities, no change of measures affecting neutral commerce, is known to have taken place. The orders of England, and the decrees of France and Spain, existing at the date of these laws, are still unrepealed, as far as we know. In Spain, indeed, a contest for the government appears to have arisen; but of its course or prospects we have no information on which prudence would undertake a hasty change in our policy, even were the authority of the Executive competent to such a decision.
You desire that, in this defect of power, Congress may be specially convened. It is unnecessary to examine the evidence or the character of the facts which are supposed to dictate such a call; because you will be sensible, on an attention to dates, that the legal period of their meeting is as early as, in this extensive country, they could be fully convened by a special call.
I should, with great willingness, have executed the wishes of the inhabitants of the town of Boston, Newburyport, and Providence, had peace, or a repeal of the obnoxious edicts, or other charges, produced the case in which alone the laws have given me that authority; and so many motives of justice and interest lead to such changes, that we ought continually to expect them. But while these edicts remain, the legislature alone can prescribe the course to be pursued.
Sir,—I have duly received the address of that portion of the citizens of [Boston] who have declared their approbation of the present suspension of our commerce, and their dissent from the representation of those of the same place, who wished its removal. A division of sentiment was not unexpected. On no question can a perfect unanimity be hoped, or certainly it would have been on that between war and embargo, the only alternatives presented to our choice. For the general capture of our vessels would have been war on one side, which reason and interest would repel by war and reprisal on our part.
Of the several interests composing those of the United States, that of manufactures would of course prefer to war a state of non-intercourse, so favorable to their rapid growth and prosperity. Agriculture, although sensibly feeling the loss of market for its produce, would find many aggravations in a state of war. Commerce and navigation, or that portion which is foreign, in the inactivity to which they are reduced by the present state of things, certainly experience their full share in the general inconvenience; but whether war would to them be a preferable alternative, is a question their patriotism would never hastily propose. It is to be regretted, however, that overlooking the real sources of their sufferings, the British and French edicts, which constitute the actual blockade of our foreign commerce and navigation, they have, with too little reflection, imputed them to laws which have saved them from greater, and have preserved for our own use our vessels, property and seamen, instead of adding them to the strength of those with whom we might eventually have to contend.
The embargo, giving time to the belligerent powers to revise their unjust proceedings, and to listen to the dictates of justice, of interest and reputation, which equally urge the correction of their wrongs, has availed our country of the only honorable expedient for avoiding war; and should a repeal of these edicts supersede the cause for it, our commercial brethren will become sensible that it has consulted their interests, however against their own will. It will be unfortunate for their country if, in the meantime, these their expressions of impatience should have the effect of prolonging the very sufferings which have produced them, by exciting a fallacious hope that we may, under any pressure, relinquish our equal right of navigating the ocean, go to such ports only as others may prescribe, and there pay the tributary exactions they may impose; an abandonment of national independence and of essential rights, revolting to every manly sentiment. While these edicts are in force, no American can ever consent to a return of peaceable intercourse with those who maintain them.
I am happy, in the approach of the period when the feelingsand the wisdom of the nation will be collected in their representatives assembled together. To them are committed our rights, to them our wrongs are known, and they will pronounce the remedy they call for; and I hear with pleasure from all, as well those who approve, as who disapprove of the present measures, assurances of an implicit acquiescence in their enunciation of the general will.
I beg leave through you to communicate this answer to the address on which your signature held the first place, and to add the assurances of my respect.
October 17, 1808.
I receive with great pleasure the friendly address of the Baltimore Baptist Association, and am sensible how much I am indebted to the kind dispositions which dictated it.
In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not fail to become a primary object. All men felt the right, and a just animation to obtain it was exhibited by all. I was one only among the many who befriended its establishment, and am entitled but in common with others to a portion of that approbation which follows the fulfilment of a duty.
Excited by wrongs to reject a foreign government which directed our concerns according to its own interests, and not to ours, the principles which justified us were obvious to all understandings, they were imprinted in the breast of every human being; and Providence ever pleases to direct the issue of our contest in favor of that side where justice was. Since this happy separation, our nation has wisely avoided entangling itself in the system of European interests, has taken no side between its rival powers, attached itself to none of its ever-changing confederacies. Their peace is desirable; and you do me justice in saying that to preserve and secure this, has been the constant aim of my administration. The difficulties which involve it, however, are now at their ultimate term, and what will be their issue, timealone will disclose. But be it what it may, a recollection of our former vassalage in religion and civil government, will unite the zeal of every heart, and the energy of every hand, to preserve that independence in both which, under the favor of heaven, a disinterested devotion to the public cause first achieved, and a disinterested sacrifice of private interests will now maintain.
I am happy in your approbation of my reasons for determining to retire from a station, in which the favor of my fellow citizens has so long continued and supported me: I return your kind prayers with supplications to the same almighty Being for your future welfare and that of our beloved country.
October 18, 1808.
I received with great pleasure the affectionate address of the Ketocton Baptist Association, and am sensible how much I am indebted to the kind dispositions which dictated it.
In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not fail to become a primary object. All men felt the right, and a just animation to obtain it was excited in all. And although your favor selected me as the organ of your petition to abolish the religious denomination of a privileged church, yet I was but one of the many who befriended its object, and am entitled but in common with them to a portion of that approbation which follows the fulfilment of a duty.
The views you express of the conduct of the belligerent powers are as correct as they are afflicting to the lovers of justice and humanity. Those moral principles and conventional usages which have heretofore been the bond of civilized nations, which have so often preserved their peace by furnishing common rules for the measure of their rights, have now given way to force, the law of Barbarians, and the nineteenth century dawns with the Vandalism of the fifth. Nothing has been spared on our part to preserve the peace of our country, during this distempered state of the world. But the difficulties which involve it are now at theirultimate term, and what will be their issue, time alone will disclose. But be that what it may, a recollection of our former vassalage in religion and civil government will unite the zeal of every heart, and the energy of every hand, to preserve that independence in both, which, under the favor of heaven, a disinterested devotion to the public cause first achieved, and a disinterested sacrifice of private interests will now maintain.
I am happy in your approbation of my reasons for determining to retire from a station in which the favor of my fellow citizens has so long continued and supported me; and I return your kind prayers by supplications to the same Almighty being for your future welfare, and that of our beloved country.
November 21, 1808.
Thank you, fellow citizens, for your affectionate address, and I receive with satisfaction your approbation of my motives for retirement. In reviewing the history of the times through which we have past, no portion of it gives greater satisfaction, on reflection, than that which presents the efforts of the friends of religious freedom, and the success with which they were crowned. We have solved by fair experiment, the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government, and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason, and the serious convictions of his own inquiries.
It is a source of great contentment to me to learn that the measures which have been pursued in the administration of your affairs have met your approbation. Too often we have had but a choice among difficulties; and this situation characterizes remarkably the present moment. But, fellow citizens, if we are faithful to our country, if we acquiesce, with good will, in thedecisions of the majority, and the nation moves in mass in the same direction, although it may not be that which every individual thinks best, we have nothing to fear from any quarter.
I thank you sincerely for your kind wishes for my welfare, and with equal sincerity implore the favor of a protecting Providence for yourselves.
Washington, November 21, 1808.
Sir,—I have received with great pleasure the address of the republicans of the State of Connecticut, and am particularly sensible of the kindness with which they have viewed my conduct in the direction of their affairs. Having myself highly approved the example of an illustrious predecessor, in voluntarily retiring from a trust, which, if too long continued in the same hands, might become a subject of reasonable uneasiness and apprehension, I could not mistake my own duty when placed in a similar situation.
Our experience so far, has satisfactorily manifested the competence of a republican government to maintain and promote the best interests of its citizens; and every future year, I doubt not, will contribute to settle a question on which reason, and a knowledge of the character and circumstances of our fellow citizens, could never admit a doubt, and much less condemn them as fit subjects to be consigned to the dominion of wealth and force. Although under the pressure of serious evils at this moment, the governments of the other hemisphere cannot boast a more favorable situation. We certainly do not wish to exchange our difficulties for the sanguinary distresses of our fellow men beyond the water. In a state of the world unparalleled in times past, and never again to be expected, according to human probabilities, no form of government has, so far, better shielded its citizens from the prevailing afflictions. By withdrawing awhile from the ocean we have suffered some loss; but we have gathered home our immense capital. Exposed to foreign depredation, wehave saved our seamen from the jails of Europe, and gained time to prepare for the defence of our country. The questions of submission, of war, or embargo, are now before our country as unembarrassed as at first. Submission and tribute, if that be our choice, will be no baser now than at the date of the embargo. But if, as I trust, that idea be spurned, we may now decide on the other alternatives of war and embargo, with the advantage of possessing all the means which have been rescued from the grasp of capture. These advantages certainly justify the approbation of the embargo declared in your address, and I have no doubt will ensure that of every candid citizen, who will correctly trace the consequences of any other course.
I thank you for the kind concern you are pleased to express for my future happiness, and offer my sincere prayers for your welfare and prosperity.
December 2, 1808.
The sentiments which you express in your address of October 27th, of attachment to the rights of your country, of your determination to support them with your lives and fortunes, and of disregard of the inconveniences which must be encountered in resisting insult and aggression, are honorable to yourselves, and encouraging to your country. They are particularly solacing to those who, having labored faithfully in establishing the right of self-government, see in the rising generation, into whose hands it is passing, that purity of principle, and energy of character, which will protect and preserve it through their day, and deliver it over to their sons as they receive it from their fathers. The measure of a temporary suspension of commerce was adopted to cover us from greater evils. It has rescued from capture an important capital, and our seamen from the jails of Europe. It has given time to prepare for defence, and has shown to the aggressors of Europe that evil, as well as good actions, recoil on the doers. If these evils have involved our inoffending neighborsalso, towards whom we have not a sentiment but of friendship and useful intercourse, it results from that state of violence by which the interests of the American hemisphere are directed to the objects of Europe. Endowed by nature with a system of interests and connections of its own, it is drawn from these by the unnatural bonds which enchain its different parts to the conflicting interests and fortunes of another world, and render its inhabitants strangers and enemies, to their neighbors and mutual friends.
Believing that the happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace, that on these alone a stable prosperity can be founded, that the evils of war are great in their endurance, and have a long reckoning for ages to come, I have used my best endeavors to keep our country uncommitted in the troubles which afflict Europe, and which assail us on every side. Whether this can be done longer, is to be doubted. I am happy that so far my conduct meets the approbation of my fellow citizens. It is the highest reward I can receive for my endeavors to serve them; and I am particularly thankful to yourselves for the kind expressions of esteem and confidence, and tender my best wishes for your personal happiness and prosperity.
Washington, December 9, 1808.
I am much indebted, fellow citizens, for your friendly address of November 20th, and gratified by its expressions of personal regard to myself. Having ever been an advocate for the freedom of religious opinion and exercise, from no person, certainly, was an abridgment of these sacred rights to be apprehended less than from myself.
In justice, too, to our excellent constitution, it ought to be observed, that it has not placed our religious rights under the power of any public functionary. The power, therefore, was wanting, not less than the will, to injure these rights.
The times in which we live, fellow citizens, are indeed times of trouble, such as no age has yet seen, or perhaps will ever see again. To avoid their calamitous influence, has been our duty and endeavor, and to effect it, great sacrifices of our citizens have been necessary. They have seen that these necessities were forced by the wrongs of others, and they have met them with the zeal which the crisis called for. What course we are finally to take, cannot yet be foreseen; but reading, reflecting, and examining for yourselves, you will find your public functionaries, according to the best of their judgments, directing your affairs, without passion or partiality, with a single view to your rights and best interests. And it is the approbation of those who so read, reflect, and examine for themselves, which is so truly consoling to the persons charged with the guidance of your affairs. For that portion of your approbation which you are pleased to bestow on my conduct, I am truly thankful, and I offer my sincere prayers for your welfare, and a happy issue of our country from the difficulties impending over it.
December 13, 1808.
The wrongs which we have sustained, fellow citizens, from the belligerent powers of Europe, and of which you have taken so just a view in your address, received by me on the 27th of the last month, could not fail to excite in the bosoms of freemen the sentiments of high indignation expressed by you. The love of peace had long induced us to bear with these aggressions, and the hope of a return to a spirit of justice had encouraged us to persevere in endeavors at amicable adjustment. Their outrages, however, have at length forced us to suspend all intercourse with them, to gather home our resources, and to prepare for whatever may happen. Your approbation of these measures is gratifying to your public functionaries, and the readiness you express to encounter the privations and sacrifices which these aggressionsoccasion, is honorable to yourselves. The legislature of the nation now assembled together, will decide how long the state of non-intercourse may be preferable to a more serious appeal. The decided support which you tender either of the present, or such other measures as they shall adopt for the good of the Union, and the pledge of your lives, your fortunes and honor for that purpose, are calculated to inspire them with firmness in their deliberations, and an assurance that the result will be supported by their country. The confidence you are so good as to express in the conduct of the administration, is highly gratifying to them, and encourages a perseverance in their best endeavors for the public good. That these may issue in effecting your happiness, and the peace and prosperity of our country, is my sincere prayer.
February 3, 1809.
In the resolutions and address which you have been pleased to present to me, I recognize with great satisfaction the sentiments of faithful citizens, devoted to the maintenance of the rights of their country, to the sacred bond which unites these States together, and rallying round their government in support of its laws. After the intolerable assault on our maritime rights, by the declarations of the belligerent powers, that we should navigate the ocean only as they should permit, the recall of our seamen, recovery of our property abroad, and putting ourselves into a state of defence, should perseverance on their parts force us to the last appeal, were duties to first obligation. No other course was left us but to reduce our navigation within the limits they dictated, and to hold even that subject to such further restrictions as their interests or will should prescribe. To this no friend to the independence of his country should submit.
Your resolution to aid in bringing to justice all violators of the laws of their country, and particularly of the embargo laws, and to be ready at all times to assist in carrying them into effect, isworthy of the patriotism which distinguishes the city and county of Philadelphia. This voluntary support of laws, formed by persons of our own choice, distinguishes peculiarly the minds capable of self-government. The contrary spirit is anarchy, which of necessity produces despotism. It is from the supporters of regular government only that the pledge of life, fortune, and honor is worthy of confidence.
I learn with great satisfaction your approbation of the several measures passed by the government, and enumerated in your address. For the advantages flowing from them you are indebted principally to a wise and patriotic legislature, and to the able and inestimable coadjutors with whom it has been my good fortune to be associated in the direction of your affairs. That these measures may be productive of the ends intended, must be the wish of every friend of his country; and the belief that everything has been done to preserve our peace, secure the rights of our fellow citizens, and to promote their best interests, will be a consolation under every situation to which the great disposer of events may destine us.
Your approbation of the motives for my retirement from the station so long confided to me, is a confirmation of their correctness. In no office can rotation be more expedient; and none less admits the indulgence of age. I am peculiarly sensible of your kind wishes for my happiness in the tranquillity of retirement. Nothing will contribute more to it than the hope of carrying with me the approbation of my fellow citizens, of the endeavors which I have faithfully exerted to be useful to them. To the all-protecting favor of heaven I commit yourselves and our common country.
February 3, 1809.
The address which the Legislature of Georgia, the immediate organ of the will of their constituents, has been pleased to present to me, is received with that high satisfaction which the approbationof so respectable a State is calculated to inspire. During the unexampled contest which has so long afflicted Europe, which has prostrated all the laws which have hitherto been deemed sacred among nations, and have so long constituted the rule of their intercourse, we had vainly hoped that our distance from the scene of carnage, and the invariable justice with which we have conducted ourselves towards all parties, would shield us from its baleful effects. But that commerce indispensably necessary for the exchange of the produce of this great agricultural country for the things which we want, increased by a temporary succession to the commerce of other nations, as being ourselves the only neutrals, has brought us into contact with the lawless belligerents in every sea, and threatens to involve us in the vortex of their contests. The privations for the want of a vent for our produce, have been the unavoidable result of the edicts of the belligerent powers. Should the measure adopted in consequence of them, and which meets your approbation, still save the lives and property of our brethren from the insults and rapacity of these powers, it will be a fortunate addition to the other benefits derived from it. On the other hand, should our present embarrassments eventuate in war, I am satisfied that the State of Georgia will zealously emulate her sister States in supporting the government of their choice, and in maintaining the rights and interests of the nation. Our soil, our industry, and our numbers, with the bravery which will be engaged in the cause, can never leave us without resources to maintain such a contest.
To no events which can concern the future welfare of my country, can I ever become an indifferent spectator; her prosperity will be my joy, her calamities my affliction.
Thankful for the indulgence with which my conduct has been viewed by the Legislature of Georgia, and for the kind expressions of their good will, I supplicate the favor of heaven towards them and our beloved country.
February 4, 1809.
The approbation you are so good as to express of the measures which have been recommended and pursued during the course of my administration of the national concerns, is highly acceptable. The approving voice of our fellow citizens, for endeavors to be useful, is the greatest of all earthly rewards.
No provision in our constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority. It has not left the religion of its citizens under the power of its public functionaries, were it possible that any of these should consider a conquest over the consciences of men either attainable or applicable to any desirable purpose. To me no information could be more welcome than that the minutes of the several religious societies should prove, of late, larger additions than have been usual, to their several associations, and I trust that the whole course of my life has proved me a sincere friend to religious as well as civil liberty.
I thank you for your affectionate good wishes for my future happiness. Retirement has become essential to it; and one of its best consolations will be to witness the advancement of my country in all those pursuits and acquisitions which constitute the character of a wise and virtuous nation; and I offer sincere prayers to heaven that its benediction may attend yourselves, our country and all its sons.
February 16, 1809.
I receive with peculiar sensibility the affectionate address of the General Assembly of my native State, on my approaching retirement from the office with which I have been honored bythe nation at large. Having been one of those who entered into public life at the commencement of an æra the most extraordinary which the history of man has ever yet presented to his contemplation, I claim nothing more, for the part I have acted in it, than a common merit of having, with others, faithfully endeavored to do my duty in the several stations allotted me. In the measures which you are pleased particularly to approve, I have been aided by the wisdom and patriotism of the national legislature, and the talents and virtues of the able coadjutors with whom it has been my happiness to be associated, and to whose valuable and faithful services I with pleasure and gratitude bear witness.
From the moment that to preserve our rights a change of government became necessary, no doubt could be entertained that a republican form was most consonant with reason, with right, with the freedom of man, and with the character and situation of our fellow citizens. To the sincere spirit of republicanism are naturally associated the love of country, devotion to its liberty, its rights, and its honor. Our preference to that form of government has been so far justified by its success, and the prosperity with which it has blessed us. In no portion of the earth were life, liberty and property ever so securely held; and it is with infinite satisfaction that withdrawing from the active scenes of life, I see the sacred design of these blessings committed to those who are sensible of their value and determined to defend them.
It would have been a great consolation to have left the nation under the assurance of continued peace. Nothing has been spared to effect it; and at no other period of history would such efforts have failed to ensure it. For neither belligerent pretends to have been injured by us, or can say that we have in any instance departed from the most faithful neutrality; and certainly none will charge us with a want of forbearance.
In the desire of peace, but in full confidence of safety from our unity, our position, and our resources, I shall retire into the bosom of my native State, endeared to me by every tie which can attach the human heart. The assurances of your approbation, and that my conduct has given satisfaction to my fellowcitizens generally, will be an important ingredient in my future happiness; and that the supreme ruler of the universe may have our country under his special care, will be among the latest of my prayers.
February 16, 1809.
The resolutions which have been entered into by the citizens of Wilmington and its vicinity, are worthy of the well-known patriotism of that place.
The storm which with little intermission has been raging for so many years, which has immolated the ancient dynasties and institutions of Europe, and prostrated the principles of public law heretofore respected, has hitherto been felt but in a secondary degree by us. But threatening at length to involve us in its vortex, it is time for all good citizens to rally round the constituted authorities by a public expression of their determination to support the laws and government of their choice, and to frown into silence all disorganizing movements. Strong in our numbers, our position and resources, we can never be endangered but by schisms at home. It has been the anxious care of the government to preserve the United States from this destructive contest; but whether it can yet be done depends on a return to reason by those who have so long rejected its dictates. On our part, there is no doubt of a continuance of the same desire to conduct the nation quietly through the political storms prevailing, and to lead it in safety through the perils with which we are menaced by the ambition of foreign nations.
I am thankful for the great indulgence with which you have viewed the measures of my administration. Of their wisdom others must judge; but I may truly say they have been pursued with honest intentions, unbiassed by any personal or interested views. It is a consolation to know that the motives for my retirement are approved; and although I withdraw from publicfunctions, I shall continue an anxious spectator of passing events, and offer to heaven my constant prayers for the preservation of our republic, and especially of those its best principles which secure to all its citizens a perfect equality of rights.
Washington, February 17, 1809.
Sir,—I have duly received the resolutions of the republican citizens of Annapolis and Anne-Arundel county, of the 4th inst., which you were so kind as to forward to me.
That the aggressions and injuries of the belligerent nations have been the real obstructions which have interrupted our commerce, and now threaten our peace, and that the embargo laws were salutary and indispensably necessary to meet those obstructions, are truths as evident to every candid man, as it is worthy of every good citizen to declare his reprobation of that system of opposition which goes to an avowed and practical resistance of these laws. To such a resistance I trust that the patriotism of our faithful citizens in no section of the Union will give any countenance. Where the law of majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends, the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take them.
I receive with particular pleasure and thankfulness the testimony of the republican citizens of Annapolis and Anne-Arundel, in favor of the course of proceedings during my administration of the public affairs. And I can truly say, in their words, that they have been conducted with the purest regard and devotion to the interests of the people and the national safety and honor; and I pray you, with my acknowledgments for these favorable sentiments, to accept the assurances of my high respect and consideration.