upon a stable footing, our merchants know their rights, and our government the ground on which they are to be supported:

-that every citizen should take pride in the name of an American, and act as if he felt the importance of the character, by considering that we are now a distinct nation, the dignity of which will be annihilated, if we enlist ourselves, further than our obligations require, under the banners of any other nation. And moreover, that we should guard against the intrigues of every foreign nation who shall intermingle in our concerns, or prescribe our policy with other if there be no infraction of our engagepowers, ments with themselves, as one of the greatest evils that can befall us as a people; for, whatever may be their professions, the event will prove, that nations, like individuals, act for their own benefit, and not for the benefit of others; and that all their interferences are calculated to promote the former, and in proportion as they succeed, will make us less independent. Nothing is more certain, than that if we receive favors, we must grant favors, and, in such circumstances as ours, we cannot tell beforehand on which side the balance will be found; but it is easy to prove that it may involve us in disputes, and finally in war, to fulfil political alliances; whereas, if there be no engagements on our part, we shall be unembarrassed, and at liberty at all times to act from circumstances, and the dictates of justice, sound policy, and our essential interests:

-that we may be always prepared for war, but never unsheath the sword, except in self-defence, so long as justice and our essential rights and national respectability can be preserved without it. If this country can remain in peace

twenty years longer, such, in all probability, will be its population, riches, and resources, when combined with her distance from other quarters of the globe, as to bid defiance, in a just cause, to any earthly power whatever:

-that so long as we profess to be neutral, our public conduct, whatever our private affections may be, may accord with our professions, without suffering partialities or prejudices to control our actions. A contrary practice is incompatible with our declarations, pregnant with mischief, embarrassing to the administration, tending to divide us into parties, and ultimately productive of all those evils which proceed from faction:

-that our Union may be as lasting as time; for while we are encircled in one band, we shall possess the strength of a giant, and there will be none to make us afraid. Divide, and we shall become a prey to foreign intrigues and internal discord, and shall be as miserable and contemptible as we are now enviable and happy.

The ninth and final wish is, that the several departments may be preserved in their constitutional purity, without any attempt of one to encroach on the rights or privileges of another, that the General and State Governments may move in their proper orbits, and the authorities of our own Constitution may be respected by ourselves, as the most certain means of having them respected by foreigners.

The concluding paragraph in the division corresponds with that which I have already noticed as the fourth head in a part of Washington's suggestions, in his letter to Mr. Madison, in regard to the treatment of public servants; and I shall quote its language hereafter.

These are golden truths, a treasure of political wisdom,

experience, and foresight, which, from the gravity of their tone, the depth of their sincerity, their simplicity, and the tenderness as well as the strength of the concern they manifest for the whole people, make them in themselves a "Farewell Address," as it were, from a dying father to his children. And they are Washington's alone, without suggestion by anybody,-Madison, Hamilton, or any other friend or adviser,-drawn from the depth of Washington's own heart; and if the whole Farewell Address, as it now stands on record, were decomposed, and such parts dispelled as were added to give the paper an entrance into the minds of statesmen and legislators, and to place it among the permanent rules of government, the great residuum would be found in these principles, an imperishable legacy to the people. They are the SOUL of the Farewell Address.

All these thoughts will be found introduced into Hamilton's original draught of the Farewell Address, and not unfrequently in the language in which Washington has expressed them; but, from the bearing that is there given them, they have not only a different aspect, but a united and concentrated influence upon one momentous and predominant interest. Their aspect is changed. In the Hints, or Heads of Topics, they have the enunciative form, which is so common in Washington's writings-simple truths, or propositions, or statements of wisdom or patriotism, with little support by argument, and without a manifest bearing upon each other, or upon any general truth which they are meant to establish; and they have no dependent order or succession. They are neither branches from a common trunk, nor rays converging to a common focus, but separate and independent truths or postulates. With the exception

of the preamble and the final clause, they might all change places with each other, in any way that could be chosen, and none of them would receive injury, nor would the effect of the whole be impaired by the change. But when they are carried into the Farewell Address, they are found to assume the ratiocinative or argumental form, so characteristic of Hamilton's writings. They are made to have a general bearing upon a general truth or aspiration; and their separate value, and their combined strength, are augmented by their order and position.

I must, therefore, assume that these paragraphs, in connection with Madison's draught, and the beginning and conclusion before mentioned, did, in the design of Washington, constitute definitely a draught by him of a valedictory address, so far as he should prepare or arrange it himself; and that this was the very paper that Hamilton saw before the 10th May, 1796, and was sent to him by Washington on the 15th May, 1796, as the basis of the work to which Washington called him. This, however, will become more evident by the letter itself, to be presently introduced.

It is proper to remark in this place, that if the preserved paper consisted of the whole of Mr. Madison's draught, and of all the paragraphs called "Hints, or Heads of Topics," it would have filled about five and a half of such printed pages as are those of Mr. Sparks's Appendix. Washington's beginning and conclusion, might have added another such page and a half, or thereabouts.

I shall now introduce, and in going on, partially apply or explain the proofs which more specially bear upon the composition of the Farewell Address.

The reference of the subject to Hamilton, of course pro

ceeded from Washington, as is shown by Hamilton's first letter to Washington.

Mr. Sparks, in his Appendix, has printed the first part of this letter as an extract; and it is the only part of the letter that has any the least reference to the subject of the preserved paper. The commencement of the letter, and its concluding address, are as follows:

"SIR,

"NEW YORK, May 10th, 1796.

"When last in Philadelphia, you mentioned to me your wish, "that I should redress a certain paper, which you had prepared. "As it is important that a thing of this kind should be done with great care, and much at leisure touched and retouched, I submit a wish, that as soon as you have given it the body you mean it to be sent to me."

66

66

66

have, it may

Washington replied on the 15th May, from Philadelphia; and as this letter is the key to Washington's intentions and to Hamilton's acts, the entire letter will be given, although it may be found at large in 6 Hamilton's Works, p. 120. The convenience of making an occasional remark upon a paragraph of it, before the whole is exhibited, will lead to its being presented in sections.

"MY DEAR SIR,

“PHILADELPHIA, May 15th, 1796.

"On this day week I wrote you a letter on the subject of the