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 acquiefcence in the measures for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may at any time dic tate. Observe good faith and justice 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 distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind a magnanimous and too novel an 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 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 sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible 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 should be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a flave to its animofity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it aftray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another difposes each more readily to offer infult and injury, to lay hold of flight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occafions of difpute 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 propenfity, and adopts, through paflion, what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animofity of the nation subservient to projects of hoftility, inftigated by pride, ambition, and other finifter and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes, 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 with tion, facilitating the illufion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, 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 justification. It leads also 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 what ought to have been retained: and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whomequal 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 interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even popularity; gilding with the appearance of a virtuous sense 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, such 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 seduction, 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 jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly 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; 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 of another, cause those whom they actuate, to fee danger only on one fide, and serve to veil, and even second, the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favourite, are liable to become suspected 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 possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, 6 Det them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Europe has a fet of prinary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence the must be engaged in fre, quent controverfies, the causes of which are efsentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary viciffitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or her enmities. Our detached and distant fituation 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 refolve upon to be fcrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impoffibility of making acquifitions up on us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation: when we may chuse peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. Why forego 'the 'advantage of so 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, rivalship, interest, humour, or caprice? ing, with powers so difpofed, in order to It is our true policy to steer clear of perto moderate the fury of party fprit, to warn 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 patroniting infidelity to exifling engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to priva e affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. 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 refpectable defenfive posture, we may fafely truft to temporary alliances for extraordinary emer against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impoftures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a fuil 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, must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the affurance of my own confcience is, that I have, at least, believed myself to be guided by them. In relation to the still 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 houses of congrefs, the spirit 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 best lights I could obtain, I was well fatisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the cafe, had Yy 1 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 firmnefs. The confiderations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not neceffary on this occafion to detail. I will only observe, that according to my understanding 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 justice and humanity impose 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 interest for obser-, ving that conduct, will best 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 institutions, and to make progress without inter ruption to that degree of strength and confiftency which is necessary 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 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 configned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the manfions of rest. Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love toward it, which is so natural to a man, who views in it the native foil of himself and his progenitors for feveral generations; I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which 1 promite myself to realize, without alloy, the sweer 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 trust, of our mutual cares, labours, and dangers. G. WASHINGTON. United States, Sept. 17, 1796. SPANISH DECLARATION of WAR against GREAT BRITAIN. Madrid, October 11. HIS majefty has tranfmitted to all his councils a decree of the following tenour: • One of the principal motives that de- termined me to make peace with the French republic, as foon as its government had began to affume a regular and flable form, was the manner in which England behaved to me during the whole of the war, and the jutt mistrost which I ought to feel for the future from the experience of her bad faith, which began to be manifested at the most critical moment of the first campaign; in the manner with which admiral Hood treated my squadron at Toulon, where he was employed solely in ruining all that he could not carry away himself; and afterward in the expedirion which he undertook against the ifland of Corfica; an expedition which he undertook without the knowledge, and which he concealed with the greatest care from don Juan de Langara, while they were together at Toulon. This fame bad faith, the English minifter has fuffered, clearly to appear by his filence upon the subject of all his negociations with other powers, particularly 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 ship le Saint Jago, or l'Achille, at first taken by the French, and afterward re-taken by the English squadron, and which ought to have been restored to me, according to the convention made between my fecretary of state, and lord St. Helen's, ambaffador from his Britannic majesty; afterward by the detention of all the ammunition which arrived in the Dutch ships, for the supply of my squadrons, by affecting always different difficulties to put off the restitution of them. Finally, I could no longer entertain a doubt of the bad faith of England, when I learnt the frequent landing from her ships upon the coasts of Chili and Peru, in order to carry on a contraband trade, and to reconnoitre the shore, under the pretence of filming for whales; a privilege which the pretended to have granted her by the convention of Nootka. Such were 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 stronger motives for fuppofing an intention on the part of England to attack my poffeffions in America, but I have also received direct insults, which perfuade me that the English minister wishes to oblige me to adopt a part contrary to the interests of humanity, tor'n by the bloody war which ravages Europe; for the termination of weich I have not ceased to offer my good offices, and to testify my constant folicitude. In fact, England has developed her intentions, has clearly evinced her project of getting poffeffion of my territories, by fer.ding to the Antilles a confiderable force, and particularly destined against 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 comunercial companies have formed upon the banks of the Miffouri, in South America, with the defign of penetrating through those countries to the South Sea; finally, by the conquest which she has nade of the colony of Demerary, belonging Dutch, and whose advantageous pofition puts her in a condition to get poffeffion of posts still more important. to the 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 coming from Genoa to Barcelona, on board Spanish ships, to complete my ar mies; the piracies and vexations which the Corfican and Anglo-Corsican corfairs, protected by the English government of that island, exercite against the Spanish trade in the Mediterranean, and even upon the coasts of Catalonia, and the detention of different Spanish ships laden with Spanish property, and carried to England, under the most frivolous pretences, and efpecially the rich cargo of the Spanish ship the Minerva, on which an embarge was laid in the most insulting manner to my flag, and the removal of which could not be obtained, though it was demon strated before the competent tribunals that this rich cargo was Spanish property. The attack committed upon my ambaffador, don Simon de las Casas, by a tribunal of London which decreed his arrest, 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 coafits of Gallicia and Alicant, by the English ships 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 ifland. By all these infults, equally deep and unparalleled, that nation has proved to the universe, that the recognizes no other laws than the aggrandifement of her commerce; and by their defpotifm, which has exhausted my patience and moderation, the has forced me, as well to support the honour of my crown, as to protect my people against her attacks, to declare war against the king of England, his kingdom and vessels, and to give orders, and take the neceffary measures for the defence of my domains, and my fubjects, and to repulfe the enemy.' Done at the Palace of St. Lau- Signed by the king and the secre- On Saturday the 8th of October, war was proclaimed at Madrid, in the usual form. * We apprehend this name must be a mistake, the Missouri being a river of North America. 1 PROGRESS of the NEGOCIATION for PEACE. ON the 25th of October, lord Malmefbury made his public entry into Paris, as the British plenipotentiary. Of the formalities attending his reception by the French government no official details have been published; but his appearance, it is faid, has given the highest fatisfaction to the parisians. His lordship's first interview was with Charles Delacroix, the minister for foreign affairs, to whom he presented his credentials, which are in Latin, and of which the following is a of TRANSLATION. George Rex. L GEORGE, by the grace of God, king of Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. to all to whom these presents 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 so many quarrels and diffentions, of reftoring and confolidating the public tranquillity; refolved, for this purpose, to choose a man capable of a negociation of this importance, and to invest 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 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 respects, full and entire power, faculty, and authority; charging him beside 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 states who may take part in the present negocia tion, also invested 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 refolutions and conclufions; to fign for us, and in our name, all the faid conventions or conclusions; to make, in confequence, every treaty or treaties, and all other acts, as he small judge necessary; to deliver and receive mutually all other objects relative to the fortunate execution of the abovementioned work; to transact with the same force, and the fame effect, as we should be able to do if we asisted in perfon; guaranteeing, and on our royal word promising, that all and each of the transactions and conclufions which shall be made and determined by our faid plenipotentiary, shall be made and agreed upon, ratified, accepted, and adopted, with the best faith; that we shall never fuffer any one, either in whole or in past, to infringe and act contrary to them; and in order to give to every thing more security and force, we have figned the present with our royal hand, and affixed to it the great feal of Great-Britain. Given in our Palace at St. James, 13th of October, year of Grace, 1796, and of our reign the 36th. After presenting his credentials to the minister for foreign affairs, lord Malmefbury addressed to him the following MEMORIAL. His Britannic, majesty defiring, as he has already declared, to contribute, as far as depends on himself, to the reestablish ment of public tranquill ty, and to enfure, by the means of just, honourable, and folid conditions of peace, the future repose of Europe; his majesty is of opinion, that the best means of attaining, with all possible expedition, that falutary end, will be to agree, at the beginning of the negociation, on the general principle which shall serve as a basis for the definitive arrangements. The first object of the negociation for peace generally relates to the restitutions and cessions which the respective parties have mutually to demand, in consequence of the events of the war. Great Britain, after the uninterrupted fuccess of her naval war, finds herself in a fituation to have no reftitution to demand of France; from which, on the contrary, she 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, conquests, to which his majesty can be the less indifferent, as the most facred engagements of his crown are effentially implicated therein. |