always a choice of difficulties) ought to be a decifive motive for a candid conftruction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a fpirit of acquiefcence in the measures for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may at any time dic

tate.

Obferve good faith and juftice toward 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 great dittant period, a great nation, to give to mankind a magnanimous and too novel an example of a people always guided by an exalted juftice and benevolence. Who can doubt that in the courfe of time and things, the fruits of fuch a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be loft 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 fentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impoffible by its vices?

In the execution of fuch a plan, nothing is more effential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and paffionate attachments forothers, should' be excluded; and that in place of them just and amicable feelings toward all fhould be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in fome degree a flave. It is a flave to its animofity or to its affection, either of which is fufficient to lead it aftray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another difpofes each more readily to offer infult and injury, to lay hold of flight caufes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occafions of difpute occur. Hence frequent collifions, obftinate, envenomed, and bloody contefts. The nation, prompted by ill-will and refentment, fometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government fometimes participates in the national propenfity, and adopts, through paffion, what reafon would reject; at other times it makes the animofity of the nation fubfervient to projects of hoftility, inftigated by pride, ambition, and other finifter and pernicious motives.-The peace often, fometimes, perhaps, the liberty of nations, has been the victim.

So likewife, a paffionate_attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favourite na

tion, facilitating the illufion of an imaginary common intereft, in cafes where no real common intereft exifts, and infufing 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 juftification. It leads alfo to conceffions to the favourite nation, of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the conceffions, by unneceffarily 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 favourite nation) facility to betray, or facrifice the interefts of their own country, without odium, fometimes even popularity; gilding with the appearance of a virtuous fenfe of obligation a commendable déference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foclish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As the avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, fuch 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 feduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public cour.cils! Such an attachment of a small or weak, toward a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the fatellite of the latter.

Against the infidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellowcitizens!) the jealoufy of a free people ought to be conftantly awake; fince history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of a republican government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; elfe it becomes the inftrument of the very influence to be avoided, inftead of a defence againft it. Exceffive partiality for one foreign nation, and exceffive diflike of another,cause those whom they actuate, to fee danger only on one fide, and ferve to veil, and even fecond, the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may refift the intrigues of the favourite, are liable to become fufpected and odious; while its tools and dupes ufurp the applaufe and confidence of the people, to furender their interests.

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 connection as poffible. So far as we have already formed engagements,

et them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let up Hop.

Europe has a fet of primary interefts, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence the must be engaged in fre, quent controverfies, the caufes of which are effentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwife in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary viciffitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collifions of her friendships or her enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to purfue a different courfe. 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 fuch an attitude as will caufe the neutrality we may at any time refolve upon to be fcrupulously refpected; when belligerent nations, under the impoffibility of making acquifitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation: when we may chufe peace or war, as our intereft, guided by juftice, fhall

counsel.

Why forego the 'advantage of fo peculiar a fituation? Why quit our own to ftand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our deftiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and profperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalihip, intereft, humour, or caprice?

It is our true policy to fteer clear of per-, manent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; fo far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronifing infi delity to exifling engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to priva e affairs, that honefty is always the beft policy. f repeat it, therefore, let thofe engagements be obferved in their genuine fenfe. But, in my opinion, it is unneceffary, and would be unwife, to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defenfive pofture, we may fafely truft to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourfe, with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and intereft. But even our commercial policy fhould hold an equal and impartial hand; neither feeking nor granting exclufive favours or preferences; confulting the natural courfe of things; diffufing and diverfifying by gentle means the ftreams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establish

In offering to you, my countrymen, thefe counfels of an old and affectionate friend, Idare not hope they will make the strong and lafting impreffion I could with: that they will controul the ufual current of the paffions, or prevent our nation from running the courfe which has hitherto marked the deftiny of nations. But if I may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of fome partial benefit, feme occafional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party fprit, to warn against the mifchiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impoftures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recom pence for the folicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated.

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

In relation to the ftill fubfifting war in Europe, my proclamation of the 22d of April 1793, is the index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approved voice and by that of your reprefentatives in both houfes of congrefs, the fpirit of that meafure has continually governed me; uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the beft lights I could obtain, I was well fatisfied that our country, under all the circumftances of the cafe, had

Y y

a fight to take, and was bound in duty and intereft to take a neutral pofition. Having taken it, I determined, as far as fhould depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation perfeverance, and firmnefs.

The confiderations which refpect the tight to hold this conduct, it is not neceffary on this occafion to detail. I will only obferve, that according to my underftanding of the matter, that right, fo far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any thing more, from the obligation which juftice and humanity impofe on every nation in cafes in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity toward other nations.

The inducements of intereft for obfer-, ving that conduct, will beft be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavour to gain time to our country to fettle and mature its yet recent inttitutions, and to make progress without inter ruption to that degree of ftrength and confiftency which is neceffary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though in reviewing the incidents of administration, I am unconscious of intentional error; I am nevertheless too fenfible of my defects not to think it proba→ ble that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently befeech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I fhall allo carry with me the hope that my country will never ceafe to view them with indulgence; and that after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its fervice with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be configned to oblivion, as myfelf muft foon be to the manfions of relt.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love toward it, which is fo natural to a man, who views in it the native foil of himfelf and his progenitors for feveral generations; I anticipate with pleafing expectation that retreat, in which I promife myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws, under a free government, the ever favourite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I truft, of our mutual cares, labours, and dangers.

G. WASHINGTON. United States, Sept. 17, 1796.

Madrid, October 11. IS majefty has tranfmitted to all his councils a decree of the following

HIS

tenour:

• This fame bad faith, the English minifter has fuffered, clearly to appear by his filence upon the fubject of all his negociations with other powers, particu larly in the treaty concluded on the 19th of November, 1794, with the United States of America, without any regard to my rights, which were well known to him. I remarked it again in his repugnance to the adoption of my plans and ideas, which might accelerate the termination of the war; and in the vague reply which lord Grenville gave to my ambaffador, the marquis del Campo, when he demanded fuccours of him to continue it.

·

He completely confirmed me in the certainty of his bad faith, by the injustice with which he appropriated the rich cargo of the Spanish fhip le Saint Jago, er l'Achille, at firft taken by the French, and afterward re-taken by the English fquadron, and which ought to have been restored to me, according to the convention made between my fecretary of state, and lord St. Helen's, ambaflador from his

tion of them.

Finally, I could no longer entertain a doubt of the bad faith of England, when I learnt the frequent landing from her fhips upon the coafts of Chili and Peru, in order to carry on a contraband trade, and to reconnoitre the fhore, under the pretence of filling for whiles; a privilege which the pretended to have granted her by the convention of Nootka. Such wene the proceedings of the British minister to cement the ties of friendship and reciprocal confidence, which he had engaged to maintain, according to our convention of the 25th of May, 1793.

Since I have made peace with the French republic, not only have I had ftronger motives for fuppofing an intention on the part of England to attack my poffeffions in America, but I have alio received direct infults, which perfuade me that the English minifter wishes to oblige me to adopt a part contrary to the intereits of humanity, tor'n by the bloody war which ravages Europe; for the termination of which I have not ceafed to offer my good offices, and to testify my conftant folicitude.

In fact, England has developed her intentions, has clearly evinced her project of getting poffeffion of my territories, by ferding to the Antilles a confiderable force, and particularly deftined againt St. Domingo, as the proclamations of her general in that ifland clearly demonftrate. She has alio made known her intentions by the establishments which her commercial companies have formed upon the banks of the Miffouri, in South America, with the defign of penetrating through thofe countries to the South Sea; finally, by the conqueft which he has nade of the colony of Demerary, belonging to the Dutch, and whofe advantageous pofition puts her in a condition to get poticílion of posts still more important.

But there can no longer remain any doubt of the hoftile nature of thele projects, when I confider the frequent infults. to my flag, the acts of violence committed in the Mediterranean by her frigates, which have carried away foldiers corning from Genoa to Barcelona, on

board Spanifh fhips, to complete my ar mies; the piracies and vexations which the Corfican and Anglo-Corsican corfairs, protected by the English government of that ifland, exercile against the Spanish trade in the Mediterranean, and even upon the coafts of Catalonia, and the detention of different Spanish fhips laden with Spanifh property, and carried to England, under the most frivolous pretences, and especially the rich cargo of the Spanif hip the Minerva, on which an embarge was laid in the moft infulting manner to my flag, and the removal of which could not be obtained, though it was demon, ftrated before the competent tribunals that this rich cargo was Spanish property.

The attack committed upon my ambaffador, don Simon de las Cafas, by a tribunal of London which decreed his arreft, founded upon the demand of a very finall fum, which was claimed by the undertaker of an embarkation. Finally, the Spanish territory has been violated in an intolerable manner upon the coafts of Gallicia and Alicant, by the English fhips the Cameleon and Kangaroo. Moreover, captain George Vaughan, commodore of the Alarm, behaved in a manner equally infolent and scandalous in the island of Trinity, where he landed with drums beating and flags flying, to attack the French, and to avenge the injuries which he pretended to have received, disturbing, by the violation of the rights of my fovereignty, the tranquillity of the inhabitants of the island.

By all thefe infults, equally deep and unparalleled, that nation has proved to the univerfe, that the recognizes no other laws than the aggrandifement of her commerce; and by their defpotfm, which has exhausted my patience and moderation, the has forced me, as well to fupport the honour of my crown, as to protect my people against her attacks, to declare war against the king of England, his kingdom and veffels, and to give orders, and take the neceffary meafures for the defence of my domains, and my subje&s, and to repulfe the enemy."

Done at the Palace of St. Lau-
renzo, 08. 5, 1796.

Signed by the king and the fecretary of the council of war. On Saturday the 8th of October, war was proclaimed at Madrid, in the ufual form.

TRANSLATION.

George Rex.

GEORGE, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. to all to whom thefe prefents thall come, greeting-Seeing that the flame of war has for a long time raged in different parts of the globe; deeply occupied with the project of terminating regularly fo many quarrels and diffentions, of restoring and confolidating the public tranquillity; refolved, for this purpofe, to choose a man capable of a negociation of this importance, and to inveft him with full authority to complete fo great a work, be it known, that the fidelity, talents, genius, perfpicuity, and experience, of our faithful and dear counfellor, James baron Malmesbury, knight of the most honourable order of the bath, infpiring us with full confidence, we have named him, and he is appointed and constituted our true, certain, and accredited commiffary and plenipotentiary, giving and conceding him, in all refpects, full and entire power, faculty, and authority; charging him befide with our general and special orders to confer, on our part, and in our name, with the minifter or minifters, commiffioners, and plenipotentiaries of the French republic, fufficiently invested with equal authority, as well as with the minifters, commiffioners, or plenipotentiaries of the other princes and ftates who may take part in the prefent negocia tion, alfo invefted with the fame authority, to treat either separately or together; to confer upon the means of establishing a folid and durable peace, amity, and fincere concord; and to adept all resolutions and conclufions; to fign for us, and in our name, all the faid conventions or conclufions; to make, in confequence, every treaty or treaties, and all other acts, as he hall judge neceffary; to deliver and

After prefenting his credentials to the minifter for foreign affairs, lord Malmefbury addreffed to him the following

MEMORIAL.

HIS Britannic, majefty defiring, as he has already declared, to contribute, as far. as depends on himself, to the reestablishment of public tranquill ty, and to enfure, by the means of juft, honourable, and folid conditions of peace, the future repofe of Europe; his majefty is of opinion, that the best means of attaining, with all poffible expedition, that falutary end, will be to agree, at the beginning of the negociation, on the general principle which hall ferve as a bafis for the definitive arrangements.

The first object of the negociation for peace generally relates to the reftitutions and ceffions which the refpective parties have mutually to demand, in confequence of the events of the war.

Great Britain, after the uninterrupted fuccefs of her naval war, finds herself in a fituation to have no restitution to demand of France; from which, on the contrary, fhe has taken establishments and colonies of the highest importance, and of a value almost incalculable.

But, on the other hand, France has made, on the continent of Europe, conquefts, to which his majesty can be the lefs indifferent, as the most facred engagements of his crown are effentially implicated therein.