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 upon 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 10 caprice? 5 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 15 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, there- 20 fore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my 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 30 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; con- 35 sulting 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 40 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, 45 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 50 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 55 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 intrigue, 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 is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them. In relating to the still subsisting war in Europe, my Proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index of 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 respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not neces sary 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, 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 17th, 1796. PHILIP FRENEAU (1752-1832) Freneau was of Huguenot descent. His grandfather, André Fresneau, a refugee from France, had landed in New York in 1707 and had established himself as an importer of wines. His business capacity was inherited by his son, and it was into a home of wealth and refinement that the grandson, Philip Freneau, was born in January, 1752. The boy was reared among books. His father, a lover of the arts, surrounded his children with refining influences. The future poet was carefully fitted for college by a tutor and at the age of sixteen was matriculated in the sophomore class at Princeton, graduating three years later with James Madison, H. H. Brackenridge and others who were destined to become known. The Freneau family now lost its wealth save for an estate in New Jersey, a plantation to which the poet retired at intervals during the rest of his life. It was from here that he sent forth his early pamphlets satirizing the British at the opening of the war. During the years 1775 to 1778 he was in the West Indies in a business capacity and while there he wrote his distinctive poem The House of Night.' On his second trip to the islands in 1779 he was captured by the British and confined for several months on a prison ship in New York harbor. Discharged at length on account of his physical condition, he retired to New Jersey and wrote his well-known long poem The British Prison Ship' which he issued in 1779. Recovered from his illness, he secured a position in the Philadelphia post office and gave all bis leisure time to the writing of poetry, the most of which appeared in The Freeman's Journal. Later he became captain of a coasting vessel. After his marriage in 1790 he became editor successively of the New York Daily Advertiser, the Philadelphia National Gazette, the Jersey Chronicle, and the New York Time-Piece and Literary Companion, to all of which he contributed many poems. During the last twenty-five years of his life he was a farmer on his estate in New Jersey, though at times he made voyages to the Azores and to other ports. He died from exposure during a winter storm in 1832. Freneau made collections of his poems in 1786, 1788, 1795, 1809, and 1815. For the edition of 1795 he set the type with his own hands and did the presswork on his own press. The most complete account of his life and work is in Pattee's edition of the Poems of Philip Freneau, 1902. This is thy praise, America, thy pow'r, Thou best of climes, by science visited, 195 By freedom blest and richly stor'd with all The luxuries of life. Hail, happy land, The seat of empire, the abode of kings, The final stage where time shall introduce Renowned characters, and glorious works 200 Of high invention and of wond'rous art Which not the ravages of time shall waste Till he himself has run his long career: Tll all those glorious orbs of light on high. The rolling wonders that surround the ball, Drop from their spheres extinguish'd and consum'd; When final ruin with her fiery car 205 |