JEFFERSON'S APPREHENSIONS CONCERNING JAY'S TREATY--HIS OPINION OF
GALLATIN--OF THE TREATY-MAKING POWER--HIS LETTER TO MAZZEI--ITS
EFFECTS--DISCLOSURE OF A CONFIDENTIAL PAPER--JEFFERSON DISCLAIMS ANY
PARTICIPATION IN THE ACT--HIS LETTER TO WASHINGTON, AND THE
REPLY--UNGENEROUS ATTACKS ON WASHINGTON'S CHARACTER--PROVISION FOR
CARRYING THE TREATY INTO EFFECT--DIPLOMATIC CHANGES--WASHINGTON AT
MOUNT VERNON--EFFORTS TO PROCURE THE LIBERATION OF
LAFAYETTE--WASHINGTON'S LETTER TO THE EMPEROR OF
GERMANY--WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS--ITS AUTHORSHIP.
According to the prediction of Vice-President Adams, the British
treaty, after having been "mauled and abused," was "acquiesced in."
"The treaty will go into operation, and be supported by a great
majority of the people," wrote Jay on the first of May; "a majority
comprising the greater part of the men most distinguished by talents,
worth, and weight."[97]
But there were many honest men--men who loved their country, were
jealous of its honor, and ready to make personal sacrifices, if
necessary, for the commonwealth--who regarded the triumph of the
government party, on this occasion, as a public calamity. Among these
was Mr. Jefferson, who, from his retirement at Monticello, sent forth,
now and then, the thunderbolts of his wrath against political opponents
and their measures. He had watched the progress of the treaty in every
stage of the ordeal to which it was subjected in Congress, and
occasionally gave his views to his friends. He was deeply enamored of
Gallatin, and with acute perception, as time demonstrated, he foresaw
the value of the young Genevese to his adopted country. "If Mr.
Gallatin," he said, in a letter to Madison on the sixth of March,
concerning the operations of the treasury, "would undertake to reduce
this chaos to order, present us with a clear view of our finances, and
put them into a form as simple as they will admit, he will merit
immortal honor."
After Gallatin's speech on the treaty, Mr. Jefferson again wrote to
Madison, saying, "It is worthy to be printed at the end of the
Federalist, as the only rational commentary on the part of the
constitution to which it relates." In reference to the power of the
house of representatives, in the matter of treaties, Mr. Jefferson
remarked in the same letter, "I see no harm in rendering their sanction
necessary, and not much harm in annihilating the whole treaty-making
power, except as to making peace. If you decide in favor of your right
to refuse your co-operation in any case of treaty, I wonder on what
occasion it is to be used, if not in one where the rights, the interest,
the honor, and faith of our nation are so grossly sacrificed; when a
faction has entered into a conspiracy with the enemies of their country,
to chain down the legislature at the feet of both; when the whole mass
of your constituents have condemned this work in the most unequivocal
manner, and are looking to you as their last hope to save them from the
effects of the avarice and corruption of the first agent, the
revolutionary machinations of others, and the incomprehensible
acquiescence of the only honest man [the president] who has assented to
it. I wish that his honesty and his political errors may not furnish a
second occasion to exclaim--'curse on his virtues, they have undone his
country.'"[98]
On the twenty-fourth of April, in a letter to his friend, Philip
Mazzei,[99] then in Florence--a letter which afterward drew down upon
the author the most severe comments--he said, "The aspect of our
politics has wonderfully changed since you left us. In place of that
noble love of liberty and republican government which carried us
triumphantly through the war, an Anglican monarchical and aristocratical
party has sprung up, whose avowed object is, to draw over us the
substance, as they have already done the form, of the British
government. The main body of our citizens, however, remain true to their
republican principles; the whole landed interest is republican, and so
is a great mass of talent. Against us are the executive; the judiciary;
two out of three branches of the legislature; all the officers of the
government; all who want to be officers; all timid men who prefer the
calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty; British merchants,
and Americans trading on British capital; speculators and holders in the
banks and public funds, a contrivance invented for the purposes of
corruption, and for assimilating us in all things to the rotten as well
as the sound parts of the British model. It would give you a fever were
I to name to you the apostates who have gone over to these heresies; men
who were Samsons in the field and Solomons in the council, but who have
had their heads shorn by the harlot England. In short, we are likely to
preserve the liberty we have obtained, only by unremitting labors and
perils. But we shall preserve it; and our mass of weight and wealth on
the good side is so great, as to leave no danger that force will ever be
attempted against us. We have only to awake and snap the Lilliputian
cords with which they have been entangling us during the first sleep
which succeeded our labors."[100]
A little later, when the government had triumphed in the matter of the
treaty, and the public acquiesced, Mr. Jefferson wrote to Monroe, in
Paris; "You will have seen, by their proceedings, the truth of what I
have always observed to you, that one man outweighs them all in
influence over the people, who have supported his judgment against their
own, and that of their representatives. Republicanism must lie on its
oars, resign the vessel to its pilot, and themselves to the course he
thinks best for them." In this manner the professedly retired statesman,
deceived by demagogues, taking Bache's abusive and unscrupulous "Aurora"
as his compass in current politics, and with his judgment sadly warped
by his prejudices, he threw out, in various directions, ungenerous
insinuations against Washington, who, at that moment, was confiding
implicitly in Jefferson's integrity, justice, sincerity, and personal
friendship. He would not allow himself to be even suspicious of any
duplicity or dishonor on the part of his late secretary, even when that
gentleman himself supposed Washington had reason to suspect him.
In Bache's "Aurora," on the ninth of June, were disclosed, by an
anonymous writer, a series of questions submitted by Washington, in
strict confidence, to the cabinet in 1793, concerning the reception of
Genet, and the force of the treaty with France. These were published
with the evident design to prejudice the executive in the public mind.
This startled Jefferson, and he thought it necessary to put in an
immediate disclaimer of all participation in the matter. He wrote to
Washington on the nineteenth of June, saying, in reference to the
document, "It having been confided to but few hands, makes it truly
wonderful how it should have got there. I can not be satisfied as to my
own part, till I relieve my mind by declaring--and I attest everything
sacred and honorable to the declaration--that it has got them, neither
through me nor the paper confided to me. This has never been from under
my own lock and key, or out of my own hands. No mortal ever knew from me
that these questions had been proposed." Mr. Jefferson then expressed
his belief, that one who had been their mutual friend "thought it worth
while to sow tares" between the president and himself, and denounced him
as an "intriguer, dirtily employed in sifting the conversations of his
table, where, alone, he could hear him."[101] The person here alluded to
was General Henry Lee, of Virginia, who had lately become attached to
the federal party, and incurred the political enmity of Jefferson.
This letter drew from Washington a most noble reply. On the sixth of
July he wrote: "If I had entertained any suspicions before, that the
queries, which have been published in Bache's paper, proceeded from you,
the assurances you have given of the contrary would have removed them;
but the truth is, I harbored none. I am at no loss to conjecture from
what source they flowed, through what channel they were conveyed, and
for what purpose they and similar publications appear. They were known
to be in the hands of Mr. Parker in the early part of the last session
of Congress. They were shown about by Mr. Giles during the session, and
they made their public exhibition about the close of it.
"Perceiving and, probably, hearing, that no abuse in the gazettes
would induce me to take notice of anonymous publications against
me, those who were disposed to do me _such friendly offices_, have
embraced, without restraint, every opportunity to weaken the
confidence of the people; and, by having the whole game in their
hands, they have not scrupled to publish things that do not, as
well as those which do exist, and to mutilate the latter, so as to
make them subserve the purposes which they have in view.
"As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be
frank, candid, or friendly, to conceal, that your conduct has been
represented as derogating from that opinion I had conceived you
entertained of me; that, to your particular friends and connections
you have described, and they have denounced, me as a person under a
dangerous influence; and that, if I would listen more to some other
opinions, all would be well. My answer invariably has been, that I
had never discovered anything in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson to
raise suspicion in my mind of his insincerity; that, if he would
retrace my public conduct while he was in the administration,
abundant proofs would occur to him, that truth and right decisions
were the sole objects of my pursuit; that there were as many
instances, within his own knowledge, of my having decided
_against_, as in _favor_, of the opinions of the persons evidently
alluded to; and, moreover, that I was no believer in the
infallibility of the politics or measures of any man living. In
short, that I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my
heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them."
This portion of Washington's letter must have been felt by Mr. Jefferson
as a severe rebuke of his real insincerity, in throwing out precisely
such insinuations as Washington here alludes to. Washington continued:--
"To this I may say, and very truly, that, until within the last
year or two, I had no conception that parties would, or even could,
go the length I have been witness to; nor did I really believe,
until lately, that it was within the bounds of probability, hardly
within those of possibility, that, while I was using my utmost
exertions to establish a national character of our own,
independent, as far as our obligations and justice would permit, of
every nation of the earth, and wished, by steering a steady course,
to preserve this country from the horrors of a desolating war, I
should be accused of being the enemy of one nation, and subject to
the influence of another; and, to prove it, that every act of my
administration would be tortured, and the grossest and most
insidious misrepresentations of these be made, by giving one side
only of a subject, and that, too, in such exaggerated and indecent
terms as could scarcely be applied to a Nero, a notorious
defaulter, or even to a common pickpocket. But enough of this, I
have already gone further in the expression of my feelings than I
intended."[102]
When Congress had disposed of the treaty by voting appropriations for
the purpose of executing it, nothing remained to complete the business
but the appointment of the several officers to carry out its provisions.
These were immediately made. David Howell, of Rhode Island, was made
commissioner for ascertaining the true river St. Croix; Messrs.
Fitzsimons and Innes (the latter soon succeeded by Mr. Sitgreaves) were
appointed commissioners on the subject of British debts; and Messrs.
Gore and Pinckney commissioners for settling claims for British
spoliations.
Some diplomatic changes were made at about this time; Rufus King was
appointed minister to England, in place of Thomas Pinckney, who wished
to return home; Colonel Humphreys was appointed minister to Spain, in
place of Mr. Carmichael, deceased; John Quincy Adams, son of the
vice-president, left the Hague, to which he had been accredited, and
succeeded Humphreys at Lisbon; and Mr. Murray took Adam's place in
Holland. The president was authorized to appoint two or more agents, one
to reside in Great Britain, the others at such points as the executive
might choose, to investigate and report concerning all impressments of
American seamen by British cruisers.
The interesting session of Congress during which Jay's treaty had been
the chief topic of debate, was now drawing to a close, and Washington
looked to the brief period of repose from public duties, at Mount
Vernon, that would succeed the legislative turmoil, with the greatest
pleasure. That moment of release came on the first day of June, when the
Congress adjourned.
The president's thoughts now turned toward his long-tried friends, and
the sweet enjoyments of private life toward which he was hastening.
Among the former, the Marquis de Lafayette held a prominent place in his
heart. He was yet a prisoner in a far-off dungeon, and his family in
exile. Feeble was the arm of any man to give him liberty, especially one
stretched toward him from the new republic beyond the sea. Yet
Washington left no means untried to liberate his friend. Compelled by
circumstances and state policy to be cautious, he was, nevertheless,
persevering in his efforts. He well knew that his formal interposition
in behalf of the illustrious captive would be unavailing. But he
employed the American ministers at European courts in expressing, on
every convenient opportunity, unofficially, the interest which the
president took in the fate of his friend, and to use every fair means in
their power to obtain his release.
While Lafayette was in the hands of the Prussian authorities, James
Marshall was sent to Berlin as a special and confidential agent to
solicit his discharge. Before Marshall's arrival, Lafayette had been
delivered by the king of Prussia into the hands of the emperor of
Germany. Mr. Pinckney, the United States minister in London, was then
instructed to indicate the wishes of the president concerning the
prisoner, to the Austrian minister in England, and to solicit the
powerful mediation of the British cabinet. These efforts failed, and
Washington, disdaining to make further application to the deputies of
sovereignty, whose petty tyranny was proverbial, determined to go to the
fountain-head of power in the dominion where his friend was suffering,
and, on the fifteenth of May, he wrote as follows to the emperor of
Germany:--
"It will readily occur to your majesty, that occasions may
sometimes exist, on which official considerations would constrain
the chief of a nation to be silent and passive in relation even to
objects which affect his sensibility, and claim his interposition
as a man. Finding myself precisely in this situation at present, I
take the liberty of writing this private letter to your majesty,
being persuaded that my motives will also be my apology for it.
"In common with the people of this country, I retain a strong and
cordial sense of the services rendered to them by the Marquis de
Lafayette; and my friendship for him has been constant and sincere.
It is natural, therefore, that I should sympathize with him and his
family in their misfortunes, and endeavor to mitigate the
calamities which they experience; among which, his present
confinement is not the least distressing.
"I forbear to enlarge on this delicate subject. Permit me only to
submit to your majesty's consideration, whether his long
imprisonment, and the confiscation of his estates, and the
indigence and dispersion of his family, and the painful anxieties
incident to all these circumstances, do not form an assemblage of
sufferings which recommend him to the mediation of humanity? Allow
me, sir, on this occasion to be its organ, and to entreat that he
may be permitted to come to this country, on such conditions, and
under such restrictions, as your majesty may think it expedient to
prescribe.
"As it is a maxim with me not to ask what, under similar
circumstances, I would not grant, your majesty will do me the
justice to believe, that this request appears to me to correspond
with those great principles of magnanimity and wisdom which form
the basis of sound policy and durable glory.
"May the Almighty and Merciful Sovereign of the universe keep your
majesty under his protection and guidance."
This letter was transmitted to Mr. Pinckney, and by him sent to the
emperor, through his minister in Great Britain. "How far it operated,"
says Marshall, "in mitigating immediately the rigor of Lafayette's
confinement, or in obtaining his liberation, remains unascertained."
Washington left Philadelphia for Mount Vernon on the thirteenth of June,
accompanied by his family, and remained there about two months. During
that retirement he made his final arrangements for leaving public life
for ever at the close of his term of office, which would occur in March
following. We have observed his great reluctance to consent to a second
nomination for the chief-magistracy of the republic. The best interests
of the commonwealth seemed to require the sacrifice on his part, and it
was given, but with a full determination not to yield again, unless
there appeared greater danger hovering over his beloved country, which
his instrumentality might avert. To this determination he had adhered;
and it was always with inexpressible satisfaction that he looked forward
to the day when his public labors should cease. But, for cogent reasons,
he never made this declaration publicly, until within the last few
months of his second administration. His confidential friends well knew
his determination, however, and the people generally suspected it.
"Those who dreaded a change of system," says Marshall, "in changing the
person of the chief-magistrate, manifested an earnest desire to avoid
this hazard, by being permitted once more to offer to the public choice
a person, who, amidst all the fierce conflicts of party, still remained
the object of public veneration." But his resolution was fixed. The
safety of the nation did not, at that time, seem to require him to
remain at its head, notwithstanding there were many and great perils
besetting it; and while he was at Mount Vernon he completed the final
draft of a "Farewell Address to the people of the United States," to be
published in time for them to choose his successor at the appointed
season.
That address had been the subject of deep and anxious thought; and, at
the special request of the president, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, Jay,
and perhaps others, had given him suggestions in writing, topical and
verbal. These he took with him to Mount Vernon, and in the quiet of his
library he arranged the address in proper form, using the suggestions of
Madison and Hamilton very freely. In the form in which it finally
appeared, it remains the noblest production of Washington's mind and
heart; and has been pronounced by Alison, the eminent British historian,
unequalled by any composition of uninspired wisdom. It is a political
legacy which not only the countrymen of Washington, but the inhabitants
of the civilized world ought to value as one of the most precious gifts
ever bestowed by man upon his race. It is permeated with the immortal
spirit of a true MAN, a true PATRIOT, and a true CHRISTIAN.[103]
FOOTNOTES:
[97] Letter to Lord Grenville.
[98] Jefferson's Memoirs and Correspondence, iii., 330.
[99] Mazzei was an Italian, who came to Virginia just before the War for
Independence commenced, bringing with him about a dozen experienced
grape culturists of his own country, for the purpose of attempting that
business in America, and the manufacture of wine. He formed a stock
company, of whom Mr. Jefferson was one, and a considerable sum was
raised for the undertaking. An estate adjoining Mr. Jefferson's was
purchased for the experiment, but the scheme failed. Mazzei went to
Europe as an agent of some kind for the state of Virginia, leaving his
family in America, and did not return. His wife died, and Mazzei wrote
to Mr. Jefferson for legal evidence of her death, and other important
information. In his reply, the strong language concerning political
affairs in America, which we have quoted, was incidentally used in the
conclusion. Mazzei was an ardent republican. He translated that portion
of the letter into Italian, and without asking Jefferson's permission to
do so, published it in a Florentine journal. It was republished in the
French journals, translated into English, and, about a year after it was
written, it appeared in the American federal newspapers, with, it was
alleged, many errors and interpolations. It placed Jefferson in an
unpleasant dilemma, yet he had such faith in Washington's confidence in
him, that he conceived that that great and good man would not construe
any portion of his remarks as aimed at the president, and, by the advice
of his friends, he kept silent, neither avowing or disavowing the letter
as his. It became the subject of fierce attacks for a long time, even
through the canvass in 1800, which resulted in the election of Mr.
Jefferson to the presidency of the United States.
I have before me a caricature, published as a frontispiece to Robert G.
Harper's "Observations on the Dispute between the United States and
France," printed in 1798, in which is represented Mr. Jefferson on
bended knee before an altar, on which is a flame, fed by papers bearing
the names of _Age of Reason_, _Godwin_, _Aurora_, _Chronicle_, _J. J.
Rousseau_, _Voltaire_, _Ruins of Volney_, _Helvetius_, &c. On the short
shaft is inscribed, "ALTAR TO GALLIC DESPOTISM." It is entwined by a
serpent, who seems to be the instrument of the devil, whose horned head
is seen rising behind the platform of the altar, upon which lies sacks
for consumption, marked, _American spoliations_, _Dutch restitution_,
_Sardinia_, _Flanders_, _Venice_, _Spain_, _Plunder_, &c. Over the flame
on the altar hovers an angry American eagle, gazed upon by the
all-seeing eye. The eagle has just snatched from the hand of Mr.
Jefferson a scroll, on which is written _Constitution and Independence,
U. S. A_., that he was about to commit to the flames. From his other
hand is falling another scroll, inscribed, _To Mazzei_. The composition
is entitled, "THE PROVIDENTIAL DETECTION."
[100] Jefferson's Memoirs and Correspondence, iii., 333.
[101] Jefferson's Memoirs and Correspondence, iii., 336.
[102] Sparks's "Life and Writings of Washington," xi., 137. In a note to
this letter, Mr. Sparks says: "No correspondence, after this date,
between Washington and Jefferson appears in the letter-books, except a
brief note the month following, upon an unimportant matter. It has been
reported and believed, that letters and papers, supposed to have passed
between them, or to relate to their intercourse with each other at
subsequent dates, were secretly withdrawn from the archives of Mount
Vernon, after the death of the former."
Washington's unlimited confidence in Mr. Jefferson's sincerity appears
to have been finally shaken. In a letter to John Nicholson, in March,
1798, he said, "Nothing short of the evidence you have adduced,
corroborative of intimations which I had received long before through
another channel, could have shaken my belief in the sincerity of a
friendship which I had conceived was possessed for me by the person to
whom you allude."
[103] The following is a copy of Washington's "Farewell Address." It was
first published in the "Philadelphia Advertiser," in September, 1796. It
occupied, in manuscript, thirty-two pages of quarto letter-paper, sewed
together as a book.
"FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:--The period for a new election of a
citizen, to administer the executive government of the United
States, being not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when
your thoughts must be employed 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 the
public voice, that I should now apprize you of the resolution I
have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those
out of whom a choice is to be made.
"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
mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our
affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons
entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.
"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 have with good intentions,
contributed towards the organization and administration of the
government, the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment
was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of
my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in
the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of
myself; and, every day, the increasing weight of years admonishes
me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me
as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have
given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have
the consolation to believe, that while choice and prudence invite
me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.
"In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate
the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to
suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I
owe to my beloved country, for the many honors it has conferred
upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has
supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of
manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and
persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits
have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be
remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our
annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in
every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances
sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in
situations in which not infrequently want of success has
countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support
was the essential prop of the efforts, and the guaranty of the
plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this
idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement
to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest
tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection
may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of
your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in
every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; 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 can not end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger,
natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the
present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to
your frequent review, some sentiments, which are the result of much
reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to
me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a People.
These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only
see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can
possibly have no personal motives to bias his counsel. Nor can I
forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my
sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. 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
now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the
edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity
at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of
that very Liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to
foresee, that from different causes and from different quarters,
much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in
your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in
your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and
external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often
covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that
you should properly estimate the immense value of your national
Union, to your collective and individual happiness; that you should
cherish a cordial, habitual and immovable attachment to it;
accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium
of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its
preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may
suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and
indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to
alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble
the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.
"For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest.
Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has
a right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which
belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the
just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from
local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have
the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You
have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the
Independence and Liberty you possess are the work of joint councils
and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.
But these considerations, however powerfully they address
themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those
which apply more immediately to your interest. Here, every portion
of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully
guarding and preserving the Union of the whole.
"The _North_, in an unrestrained intercourse with the _South_,
protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the
productions of the latter, great additional resources of maritime
and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing
industry. The _South_ in the same intercourse, benefiting by the
agency of the _North_, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce
expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the
_North_, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while
it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the
general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the
protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally
adapted. The _East_, in a like intercourse with the _West_, already
finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior
communications by land and water, will more and more find, a
valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or
manufactures at home. The _West_ derives from the _East_ supplies
requisite to its growth and comfort; and, what is perhaps of still
greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the _secure_
enjoyment of indispensable _outlets_ for its own productions to the
weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic
side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of
interest as ONE NATION. Any other tenure by which the _West_ can
hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own
separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection
with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.
"While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and
particular interest in Union, all the parties combined can not fail
to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength,
greater resource, proportionably greater security from external
danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign
nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from
Union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves,
which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together
by the same governments; which their own rivalships alone would be
sufficient to produce, but which, opposite foreign alliances,
attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence,
likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military
establishments which, under any form of government, are
inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as
particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. In this sense it is,
that your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your
liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the
preservation of the other.
"These considerations speak a persuasive language to every
reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the
UNION as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt
whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let
experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case
were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization
of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the
respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue of the
experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such
powerful and obvious motives to Union, affecting all parts of our
country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its
impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the
patriotism of those, who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its
bands.
"In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs
as a matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been
furnished for characterizing parties by _Geographical_
discriminations, _northern_ and _southern_, _Atlantic_ and
_western_; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief
that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One
of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular
districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other
districts. You can not shield yourselves too much against the
jealousies and heart-burnings which spring from these
misrepresentations: they tend to render alien to each other those
who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The
inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson
on this head: they have seen in the negotiation by the Executive,
and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate of the treaty with
Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event throughout
the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the
suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General
Government and in the Atlantic states, unfriendly to their
interests in regard to the MISSISSIPPI: they have been witnesses to
the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain and that
with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in
respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their
prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the
preservation of these advantages on the UNION by which they were
procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if
such there are, who would sever them from their brethren, and
connect them with aliens?
"To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the
whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the
parts, can be an adequate substitute: they must inevitably
experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in
all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you
have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a
Constitution of Government better calculated than your former for
an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your
common concerns. This Government, the offspring of our own choice,
uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature
deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the
distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and
containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a
just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its
authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures,
are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The
basis of our political systems is, the right of the people to make
and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the
Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit
and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon
all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to
establish Government, presupposes the duty of every individual to
obey the established Government.
"All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all combinations
and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real
design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular
deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are
destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency.
They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and
extraordinary force; to put in the place of the delegated will of
the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and
enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the
alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public
administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous
projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and
wholesome plans, digested by common councils, and modified by
mutual interests. However combinations or associations of the above
description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely,
in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by
which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to
subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the
reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines which
have lifted them to unjust dominions.
"Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of
your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you
steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged
authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of
innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One
method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the
constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the
system, and thus to undermine what can not be directly overthrown.
In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time
and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of
governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the
surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing
constitution of a country; that facility in changes upon the credit
of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change from
the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember,
especially, that for the efficient management of your common
interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as
much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty,
is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government,
with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian.
It is indeed little else than a name, where the government is too
feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each
member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and
to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights
of person and property.
"I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the
state, with particular reference to the founding of them on
geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive
view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful
effects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit,
unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in
the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different
shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled or
repressed; but in those of the popular form, it is seen in its
greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate
domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of
revenge, natural to party dissention, which, in different ages and
countries, has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a
frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and
permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result,
gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in
the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief
of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his
competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own
elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.
"Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which
nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and
continual mischiefs of the spirit of party, are sufficient to make
it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and
restrain it.
"It serves always to distract the Public Councils and enfeeble the
Public Administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded
jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part
against another; foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It
opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a
facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of
party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are
subjected to the policy and will of another.
"There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful
checks upon the administration of the Government, and serve to keep
alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably
true; and in Governments of a Monarchical cast, Patriotism may look
with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But
in those of a popular character, in Governments purely elective, it
is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it
is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every
salutary purpose. And, there being constant danger of excess, the
effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and
assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform
vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of
warning, it should consume.
"It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free
country should inspire caution in those intrusted with its
administration, to confine themselves within their respective
constitutional spheres, avoiding, in the exercise of the powers of
one department, to encroach upon another. The spirit of
encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments
in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a
real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and
proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart is
sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The
necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power,
by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and
constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions
of the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern:
some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve
them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion
of the people, the distribution or modification of the
constitutional powers be, in any particular, wrong, let it be
corrected by an amendment in the way, which the constitution
designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though
this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the
customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The
precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any
partial or transient benefit, which the use can, at any time,
yield.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In
vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should
labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these
firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere
Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to
cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with
private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the
security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of
religious obligation _desert_ the oaths, which are the instruments
of investigation in Courts of Justice; and let us with caution
indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without
religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined
education on minds of peculiar structure; reason and experience
both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in
exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true, that
virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The
rule, indeeds, extends with more or less force to every species of
free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with
indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?
"Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions
for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the
structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is
essential that public opinion should be enlightened. As a very
important source of strength and security, cherish public credit.
One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible;
avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but
remembering, also, that timely disbursements to prepare for danger,
frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it;
avoiding, likewise, the accumulations of debt, not only by shunning
occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to
discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned,
not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we
ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to
your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion
should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their
duty, it is essential you should practically bear in mind, that
toward the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have
Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are
not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic
embarrassments inseparable from the selection of the proper object
(which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive
motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government
in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for
obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time
dictate.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations; cultivate
peace and harmony with all. Religion and Morality enjoin this
conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin
it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant
period, a great Nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too
novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and
benevolence. Who can doubt, that, in the course of time and things,
the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary
advantages, that might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it
be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a
Nation with its Virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by
every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered
impossible by its vices?
"In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential, than
that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular Nations,
and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and
that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings toward all
should be cultivated. The nation, which indulges toward another an
habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some decree a
slave. It is a slave to its animosity, or to its affection, either
of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its
interest. Antipathy in one nation against another, disposes each
more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight
causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when
accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent
collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The Nation,
prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the
Government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The
Government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and
adopts, through passion, what reason would reject; at other times,
it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of
hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and
pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty,
of Nations has been the victim.
"So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one Nation for another
produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation,
facilitating the allusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases
where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the
enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in
the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or
justification. It leads, also, to concessions to the favorite
Nation, of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to
injure the Nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting
with what ought to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy,
ill will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom
equal privileges are withheld; and it gives to ambitious,
corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the
favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of
their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity;
gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a
commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for
public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition,
corruption, or infatuation.
"As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such
attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and
independent Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to
tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction,
to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the Public Councils!
Such an attachment of a small or weak, toward a great and powerful
nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. Against
the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe
me, fellow-citizens), the jealousy of a free people ought to be
_constantly_ awake; since history and experience prove that foreign
influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government.
But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes
the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a
defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation,
and excessive dislike for another, cause those whom they actuate to
see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the
arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the
intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and
odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence
of the people, to surrender their interests. 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 possible. So far as we have already formed
engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here
let us stop.
"Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a
very remote relation. Hence she most be engaged in frequent
controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our
concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate
ourselves, by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her
politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her
friendships or enmities. Our detached and distant situation invites
and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one
people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off,
when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we
may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality, we may at
any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected; when
belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions
upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we
may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall
counsel.
"Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our
own to stand on foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny
with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity
in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or
caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent
alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as
we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as
capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold
the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs,
that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let
those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my
own opinion, it is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend them.
Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments,
on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to
temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.
"Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by
policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy
should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor
granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural
course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the
streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing, with powers
so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the
rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support
them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present
circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and
liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience
and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view, that
it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from
another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for
whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such
acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given
equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with
ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than
to expect, or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It
is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride
ought to discard.
"In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and
affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and
lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual
current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the
course, which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I
may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some
partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then
recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the
mischiefs of foreign intrigues, to guard against the impostures of
pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the
solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated. How
far in the discharge of my official duties, I have been guided by
the principles which have been delineated, the public records and
other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world.
To myself, the assurance of my own conscience, that I have at least
believed myself to be guided by them.
"In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my Proclamation
of the twenty-second of April, 1793, is the index to my Plan.
Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your
representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that
measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts
to deter or divert me from it. After deliberate examination, with
the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied
that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a
right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a
neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should
depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and
firmness.
"The considerations, which respects the right to hold this conduct,
it is not necessary, on this occasion, to detail. I will only
observe, that, according to my understanding of the matter, that
right, so far from being denied by any of the Belligerent Powers,
has been virtually admitted by all. The duty of holding a neutral
conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation
which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in
which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of
peace and amity toward other nations. The inducements of interest
for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own
reflection and experience. With me, a predominant motive has been
to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its
yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to
that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give
it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.
"Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am
unconscious of intentional error: I am, nevertheless, too sensible
of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed
many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty
to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also
carry with me the hope, that my Country will never cease to view
them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of my life
dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of
incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must
soon be to the mansions of rest. Relying on its kindness in this as
in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it,
which is so natural to a man, who views in it the native soil of
himself and his progenitors for several generations; I anticipate
with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I promise myself
to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the
midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws
under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and
the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and
dangers.
"GEORGE WASHINGTON.
"UNITED STATES,
"_September 17, 1796_."
There has been some discussion, within a few years past, concerning the
authorship of Washington's Farewell Address, it having been claimed for
General Hamilton, because a draught of it, varying but little in form
and substance from the document under that title which we have given in
the preceding pages, was found, in Hamilton's handwriting, among his
papers, soon after his death in 1804.
The subject has been thoroughly examined by Horace Binney, Esq., of
Philadelphia, in a volume of two hundred and fifty pages, published in
the autumn of 1859. After a most searching analysis of every fact
bearing upon the subject to be found in the writings of Washington,
Madison, Hamilton, and others, he arrives at an inevitable conclusion,
which he gives in the following words:--
"Washington was, undoubtedly, the original designer of the Farewell
Address; and not merely by general or indefinite intimations, but
by the suggestion of perfectly definite subjects, of an end or
object, and of a general outline, the same which the paper now
exhibits. His outline did not appear so distinctly in his own plan,
because the subjects were not so arranged in it as to show that
they were all comprehended within a regular and proportional
figure; but when they came to be so arranged in the present
Address, the scope of the whole design is seen to be contained
within the limits he intended, and to fill them. The subjects were
traced by him with adequate precision, though without due
connection, with little expansion, and with little declared bearing
of the parts upon each other, or toward a common centre; but they
may now be followed with ease in their proper relations and bearing
in the finished paper, such only excepted as he gave his final
consent and approbation to exclude.
"In the most common and prevalent sense of the word among literary
men, this may not, perhaps, be called authorship; but in the
primary etymological sense--the quality of imparting growth or
increase--there can be no doubt that it is so. By derivation from
himself, the Farewell Address speaks the very mind of Washington.
The fundamental thoughts and principles were his; but he was not
the composer or writer of the paper.
"Hamilton was, in the prevalent literary sense, the composer and
writer of the paper. The occasional adoption of Washington's
language does not materially take from the justice of this
attribution. The new plan, the different form, proceeded from
Hamilton. He was the author of it. He put together the thoughts of
Washington in a new order, and with a new bearing; and while, as
often as he could, he used the words of Washington, his own
language was the general vehicle, both of his own thoughts, and for
the expansion and combination of Washington's thoughts. Hamilton
developed the thoughts of Washington, and corroborated
them--included several cognate subjects, and added many effective
thoughts from his own mind, and united all into one chain by the
links of his masculine logic.
"The main trunk was Washington's; the branches were stimulated by
Hamilton; and the foliage, which was not exuberant, was altogether
his: and he, more than Washington, pruned and nipped off, with
severe discrimination, whatever was excessive--that the tree might
bear the fruits which Washington desired, and become his full and
fit representative....
"We have explicit authority for regarding the whole Man as
compounded of BODY, SOUL, and SPIRIT. The Farewell Address, in a
lower and figurative sense, is likewise so compounded. If these
were divisible and distributable, we might, though not with full
and exact propriety, allot the SOUL to Washington, and the SPIRIT
to Hamilton. The elementary body is Washington's, also; but
Hamilton has developed and fashioned it, and he has symmetrically
formed and arranged the members, to give combined and appropriate
action to the whole. This would point to an allotment of the soul
and the elementary body to Washington, and of the arranging,
developing, and informing spirit, to Hamilton--the same
characteristic which is found in the great works he devised for the
country, and are still the chart by which his department of the
government is ruled.
"The Farewell Address itself, while in one respect--the question
of its authorship--it has had the fate of the _Eikon Basilike_, in
another it has been more fortunate; for no Iconoclasts has
appeared, or ever can appear, to break or mar the image and
superscription of Washington, which it bears, or to sully the
principles of the moral and political action in the government of a
nation, which are reflected from it with his entire approval, and
were, in fundamental points, dictated by himself."--_"An Inquiry
into the Formation of Washington's Farewell Address_," by Horace
Binney, page 169.