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treaty, and full communications were made to him on the subject. Colonel Monroe was also furnished with documents, calculated to remove uneasiness from the minds of the French Directory respecting this transaction. But instead of communicating to the Directory the documents and reasonings of his government, while they were deliberating on this subject, and before they had committed themselves by any publick act, he reserved them as answers to complaints, that the government of France might make against the treaty with Great Britain.

The President well knew that France had no just ground of complaint against the United States; but he was apprehensive that her disappointment at the adjustment of a controversy which had long menaced war between Great Britain and America, would induce her to some act of violence. He therefore deemed it highly important, that there should be a Minister at Paris, who fully entered into the views of the Administration. Not being perfectly satisfied with Mr. Monroe, he recalled him, and appointed as his successor, General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. The French having complained of most of the acts of the American Government, in relation to the powers at war, by order of the President these acts were carefully reviewed, a fair and minute detail of all points of difference between the two nations given, and the measures of the Administration defended by unanswerable arguments. Upon this lucid and conclusive vindication of the measures of the Administration, the President relied to remove jealousy from the minds of the Directory, and restore the harmony of the two nations; but unhappily the party at home had taken their ground, and were not by any considerations to be moved from it, and supported by these, the French Directory were not disposed to recede.

At the near approach of the period for the election of a President, it fully appeared, that General WASH

INGTON had not lost his hold on the affections and confidence of his countrymen. The publick sentiment every where indicated a determination to choose no man an elector, on whom implicit confidence could not be placed, to give his suffrage for General WASIIINGTON; and it was satisfactorily ascertained, that should the General consent to be a candidate, he would for the third time be unanimously chosen President of the United States.

In this state of the publick mind, in the month of September he published the following address.

"FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS,

"The period for a new election of a citizen, to ad minister the Executive Government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts must be employed in 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 tho publick 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.

"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.

"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 matare reflection on the then perplexed and critical pos ture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unani mous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, im pelled me to abandon the idea.

"I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty, or propriety; and am persuaded whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

"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 nave, 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 ine 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.

"In looking forward to the moment, which is to terminate the career of my publick life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my be

loved country, for the many honours it has conferred upon mo 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 direc tion, 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 criticismthe 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 beneficencethat 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-that, 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 the adoption, of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

"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 observa

tion, and which appear to me all important to the per manency 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 counsels. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

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

"The unity of government which constitutes you one people, is also 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 immoveable 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.

"For this you have every inducement of sympathy

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