PART III.

REPLIES TO PUBLIC ADDRESSES.

MESSRS. NEHEMIAH DODGE, EPHRAIM ROBBINS, AND STEPHEN S. NELSON, A COMMITTEE OF THE DANBURY BAPTIST ASSOCIATION, IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT.

January 1, 1802.

GENTLEMEN,--The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association, give me the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect and esteem.

TO WILLIAM JUDD, ESQUIRE, CHAIRMAN.

WASHINGTON, November 15, 1802.

Expressions of confidence from the respectable description of my fellow citizens, in whose name you have been pleased to address me, are received with that cordial satisfaction which kindred principles and sentiments naturally inspire.

The proceedings which they approve were sincerely intended for the general good; and if, as we hope, they should in event produce it, they will be indebted for it to the wisdom of our legislative councils, and of those distinguished fellow laborers whom the laws have permitted me to associate in the general administration.

Exercising that discretion which the constitution has confided to me in the choice of public agents, I have been sensible, on the one hand, of the justice done to those who have been systematically excluded from the service of their country, and attentive, on the other, to restore justice in such a way as might least affect the sympathies and the tranquillity of the public mind. Deaths, resignations, delinquencies, malignant and active opposition to the order of things established by the will of the nation, will, it is believed, within a moderate space of time, make room for a just participation in the management of the public affairs; and that being once effected, future changes at the helm will be viewed with tranquillity by those in subordinate station.

Every wish of my heart will be completely gratified when that portion of my fellow citizens which has been misled as to the character of our measures and principles, shall, by their salutary effects, be corrected in their opinions, and joining with good will the great mass of their fellow citizens, consolidate an union which cannot be too much cherished.

I pray you, Sir, to accept for yourself, and for the general meeting of the Republicans of the State of Connecticut at New Haven, whose sentiments you have been so good as to convey to me, assurances of my high consideration and respect.

TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE.

December 24, 1803.

Amidst the anxieties which are felt for the favorable issue of measures adopted for promoting the public good, it is a consolation to meet the approbation of those on whose behalf they are instituted. I shall certainly endeavor to merit a continuance of the good opinion which the legislature of Tennessee have been pleased to express in their address of the 8th November, by a zealous attention to the interests of my constituents; and shall count on a candid indulgence whenever untoward events may happen to disappoint well-founded expectations.

In availing our western brethren of those circumstances which occur for promoting their interests, we only perform that duty which we owe to every portion of the Union, under occurrences equally favorable; and, impressed with the inconveniences to which the citizens of Tennessee are subjected by a want of contiguity in the portions composing their State, I shall be ready to do for their relief, whatever the general legislature may authorize, and justice to our neighbors permit.

The acquisition of Louisiana, although more immediately beneficial to the western States, by securing for their produce a certain market, not subject to interruption by officers over whom we have no control, yet is also deeply interesting to the maritime portion of our country, inasmuch as by giving the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi, it avoids the burthens and sufferings of a war, which conflicting interests on that river would inevitably have produced at no distant period. It opens, too, a fertile region for the future establishments in the progress of that multiplication so rapidly taking place in all parts.

I have seen with great satisfaction the promptitude with which the first portions of your militia repaired to the standard of their country. It was deemed best to provide a force equal to any event which might arise out of the transaction, and especially to the preservation of order, among our newly-associated brethren, in the first moments of their transition from one authority to another. I tender to the legislature of Tennessee assurances of my high respect and consideration.

TO THE TWO BRANCHES OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

February 14, 1807.

It is with sincere pleasure that I receive, from the two branches of the legislature of Massachusetts, an address, expressive of their satisfaction with the administration of our government. The approbation of my constituents is truly the most valued reward for any services it has fallen to my lot to render them--their confidence and esteem, the greatest consolation of my life. The measures which you have been pleased particularly to note, I have believed to have been for the best interests of our country. But far from assuming their merit to myself, they belong first, to a wise and patriotic legislature, which has given them the form and sanction of law, and next, to my faithful and able fellow-laborers in the Executive administration.

The progression of sentiment in the great body of our fellow citizens of Massachusetts, and the increasing support of their opinion, I have seen with satisfaction, and was ever confident I should see; persuaded that an enlightened people, whenever they should view impartially the course we have pursued, could never wish that our measures should have been reversed; could never desire that the expenses of the government should have been increased, taxes multiplied, debt accumulated, wars undertaken, and the tomahawk and scalping knife left in the hands of our neighbors, rather than the hoe and plough. In whatever tended to strengthen the republican features of our constitution, we could not fail to expect from Massachusetts, the cradle of our revolutionary principles, an ultimate concurrence; and cultivating the peace of nations, with justice and prudence, we yet were always confident that, whenever our rights would be to be vindicated against the aggression of foreign foes, or the machinations of internal conspirators, the people of Massachusetts, so prominent in the military achievements which placed our country in the right of self-government, would never be found wanting in their duty to the calls of their country, or the requisitions of their government.

During the term, which yet remains, of my continuance in the station assigned me, your confidence shall not be disappointed, so far as faithful endeavors for your service can merit it.

I feel with particular sensibility your kind expressions towards myself personally; and I pray that that Providence in whose hand are the nations of the earth, may continue towards ours his fostering care, and bestow on yourselves the blessings of His protection and favor.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, AND SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS.

WASHINGTON, February 14, 1807.

GENTLEMEN,--I acknowledge, in the first moment it has been in my power, the receipt of your joint letter of January 26th, with the address of the two branches of legislature of Massachusetts, expressing their approbation of the proceedings of our government. This declaration cannot fail to give particular and general satisfaction to our fellow citizens, and to produce wholesome effects at home and abroad. The remarkable union of sentiment which pervaded nearly the whole of the States and territories composing our nation, was such, indeed, as to inspire a just confidence in the course we had to pursue. Yet something was sensibly wanting to fill up the measure of our happiness, while a member so important, so esteemed as Massachusetts, had not yet declared its participation in the common sentiment. That it is now done, will be a subject of mutual congratulation.

I am sensible that the terms in which you have been pleased to make this communication, are not merely those of official duty. I feel how much I am indebted to the kind and friendly disposition they manifest; and I cherish them as proofs of an esteem highly valued.

Permit me, through you, to return to the two branches of the legislature the enclosed answer, and accept the assurances of my esteem and high consideration.

TO MESSRS. THOMAS, ELLICOT, AND OTHERS.

November 13, 1807.

FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS,--I thank you for the address you have kindly presented me, on behalf of that portion of the Society of Friends of which you are the representatives, and I learn with satisfaction their approbation of the principles which have influenced the councils of the general government in their decisions on several important subjects confided to them.

The desire to preserve our country from the calamities and ravages of war, by cultivating a disposition, and pursuing a conduct, conciliatory and friendly to all nations, has been sincerely entertained and faithfully followed. It was dictated by the principles of humanity, the precepts of the gospel, and the general wish of our country, and it was not to be doubted that the Society of Friends, with whom it is a _religious_ principle, would sanction it by their support.

The same philanthropic motives have directed the public endeavors to ameliorate the condition of the Indian natives, by introducing among them a knowledge of agriculture and some of the mechanic arts, by encouraging them to resort to these as more certain, and less laborious resources for subsistence than the chase; and by withholding from them the pernicious supplies of ardent spirits. They are our brethren, our neighbors; they may be valuable friends, and troublesome enemies. Both duty and interest then enjoin, that we should extend to them the blessings of civilized life, and prepare their minds for becoming useful members of the American family. In this important work I owe to your society an acknowledgment that we have felt the benefits of their zealous co-operation, and approved its judicious direction towards producing among those people habits of industry, comfortable subsistence, and civilized usages, as preparatory to religious instruction and the cultivation of letters.

Whatever may have been the circumstances which influenced our forefathers to permit the introduction of personal bondage into any part of these States, and to participate in the wrongs committed on an unoffending quarter of the globe, we may rejoice that such circumstances, and such a sense of them, exist no longer. It is honorable to the nation at large that their legislature availed themselves of the first practicable moment for arresting the progress of this great moral and political error; and I sincerely pray with you, my friends, that all the members of the human family may, in the time prescribed by the Father of us all, find themselves securely established in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and happiness.

TO CAPTAIN JOHN THOMAS.

WASHINGTON, November 18, 1807.

SIR,--I received on the 14th instant your favor of August 31, and I beg you to assure my fellow citizens of the Baptist church of Newhope meeting-house, that I learn with great satisfaction their approbation of the principles which have guided the present administration of the government. To cherish and maintain the rights and liberties of our citizens, and to ward from them the burthens, the miseries, and the crimes of war, by a just and friendly conduct towards all nations, were among the most obvious and important duties of those to whom the management of their public interests have been confided; and happy shall we be if a conduct guided by these views on our part, shall secure to us a reciprocation of peace and justice from other nations.

Among the most inestimable of our blessings, also, is that you so justly particularize, of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to his will; a liberty deemed in other counties incompatible with good government, and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.

Your confidence in my dispositions to befriend every human right is highly grateful to me, and is rendered the more so by a consciousness that these dispositions have been sincerely entertained and pursued. I am thankful for the kindness expressed towards me personally, and pray you to return to the society in whose name you have addressed me, my best wishes for their happiness and prosperity; and to accept for yourself assurances of my great esteem and respect.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR SMITH.

WASHINGTON, December 1, 1807.

SIR,--The Secretary of State has communicated to me your letter to him of the 14th of November, covering the resolutions of the General Assembly of Vermont of the 4th of the same month.

The sentiments expressed by the General Assembly of Vermont on the late hostile attack on the Chesapeake by the Leopard ship-of-war, as well as on other violations of our maritime and territorial rights, are worthy of their known patriotism; and their readiness to rally around the constituted authorities of their country, and to support its rights with their lives and fortunes, is the more honorable to them as exposed by their position, in front of the contest. The issue of the present misunderstandings cannot now be foreseen; but the measures adopted for their settlement have been sincerely directed to maintain the rights, the honor, the peace of our country; and the approbation of them expressed by the General Assembly is to me a confirmation of their correctness.

The confidence they are pleased to declare in my personal care of the public interests, is highly gratifying to me, and gives a new claim to everything which zeal can effect for their service.

I beg leave to tender to the General Assembly of Vermont, and to yourself, the assurances of my high consideration and respect.

TO THE LEGISLATURE OF VERMONT.

December 10, 1807.

I received in due season the _address_ of the Legislature of Vermont, bearing date the 5th of November 1806, in which, with their approbation of the general course of my administration, they were so good as to express their desire that I would consent to be proposed again, to the public voice, on the expiration of my present term of office. Entertaining, as I do, for the legislature of Vermont those sentiments of high respect which would have prompted an immediate answer, I was certain, nevertheless, they would approve a delay which had for its object to avoid a premature agitation of the public mind, on a subject so interesting as the election of a chief magistrate.

That I should lay down my charge at a proper period, is as much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years, will, in fact, become for life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative government, responsible at short periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle; and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish the first example of prolongation beyond the second term of office.

Truth, also, requires me to add, that I am sensible of that decline which advancing years bring on; and feeling their physical, I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the first to perceive and to obey this admonition of nature, and to solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of age.

For the approbation which the legislature of Vermont has been pleased to express of the principles and measures pursued in the management of their affairs, I am sincerely thankful; and should I be so fortunate as to carry into retirement the equal approbation and good will of my fellow citizens generally, it will be the comfort of my future days, and will close a service of forty years with the only reward it ever wished.

* * * * *

"Addresses approving the general course of his administration, were also received from Georgia, December 6th, 1806; from Rhode Island, February 27th, 1807; from New York, March 13th, 1807; from Pennsylvania, March 13th, 1807; and from Maryland, January 3d, 1807; to all which answers like that sent to Vermont, were returned."--_Ed._

TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW JERSEY IN THEIR LEGISLATURE.

December 10, 1807.

The sentiments, fellow citizens, which you are pleased to express in your address of the 4th inst., of attachment and esteem for the general government, and of confidence and approbation of those who direct its councils, cannot but be pleasing to the friends of union generally, and give a new claim on all those who direct the public affairs, for everything which zeal can effect for the good of their country.

It is indeed to be deplored that distant as we are from the storms and convulsions which agitate the European world, the pursuit of an honest neutrality, beyond the reach of reproach, has been insufficient to secure to us the certain enjoyment of peace with those whose interests as well as ours would be promoted by it. What will be the issue of present misunderstandings cannot as yet be foreseen; but the measures adopted for their settlement have been sincerely directed to maintain the rights, the honor, and the peace of our country. Should they fail, the ardor of our citizens to obey the summons of their country, and the offer which you attest, of their lives and fortunes in its support, are worthy of their patriotism, and are pledges of our safety.

The suppression of the late conspiracy by the hand of the people, uplifted to destroy it whenever it reared its head, manifests their fitness for self-government, and the power of a nation, of which every individual feels that his own will is a part of the public authority.

The effect of the public contributions in reducing the national debt, and liberating our resources from the canker of interest, has been so far salutary, and encourages us to continue in the same course; or, if necessarily interrupted, to resume it as soon as practicable.

I perceive with sincere pleasure that my conduct in the chief magistracy has so far met your approbation, that my continuance in that office, after its present term, would be acceptable to you. But that I should lay down my charge at a proper period is as much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years, will, in fact, become for life, and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative government, responsible at short periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle; and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish the first example of prolongation beyond the second term of office.

Truth also obliges me to add, that I am sensible of that decline which advancing years bring on, and feeling their physical, I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the first to perceive and to obey this admonition of nature, and to solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of age.

Declining a re-election on grounds which cannot but be approved, I am sincerely thankful for the approbation which the Legislature of New Jersey are pleased to manifest of the principles and measures pursued in the management of their affairs; and should I be so fortunate as to carry into retirement the equal approbation and good will of my fellow citizens generally, it will be the comfort of my future days, and will close a service of forty years with the only reward it ever wished.

TO THE TAMMANY SOCIETY OF THE CITY OF WASHINGTON.

December 14, 1807.

The appearances for some time past, threatening our peace, fellow citizens, have justly excited a general anxiety; and I have been happy to receive from every quarter of the Union the most satisfactory assurances of fidelity to our country, and of devotion to the support of its rights. Your concurrence in these sentiments, expressed in the address you have been pleased to present me, is a proof of your patriotism, and of that firm spirit which constitutes the ultimate appeal of nations. What will be the issue of present misunderstandings, is, as yet, unknown. But, willing ourselves to do justice to others, we ought to expect it from them. If any among us view erroneously the rights which late events have brought into question, let us hope that they will be corrected by the further investigation of reason; but, at all events, that they will acquiesce in what their country shall authoritatively decide, and arrange themselves faithfully under the banners of the law.

Your approbation of the measures which have been pursued, is a pleasing confirmation of their correctness; and, with particular thankfulness for the kind expressions of your address towards myself personally, I reciprocate sincere wishes for your welfare.

TO MESSRS. ABNER WATKINS AND BERNARD TODD.

December 21st, 1807.

I have duly received, fellow citizens, the address of October 21st, which you have been so kind as to forward me on the part of the society of Baptists, of the Appomatox Association, and it is with great satisfaction when I learn from my constituents that the measures pursued in the administration of their affairs, during the time I have occupied the presidential chair, have met their approbation. Of the wisdom of these measures, it belongs to others to judge; that they have always been dictated by a desire to do what should be most for the public good, I may conscientiously affirm. Believing that a definite period of retiring from this station will tend materially to secure our elective form of government; and sensible, too, of that decline which advancing years bring on, I have felt it a duty to withdraw at the close of my present term of office; and to strengthen by practice a principle which I deem salutary. That others may be found whose talents and integrity render them proper deposits of the public liberty and interests, and who have made themselves known by their eminent services, we can all affirm, of our personal knowledge. To us it will belong, fellow citizens, when their country shall have called them to its helm, to give them our support while there, to facilitate their honest efforts for the public good, even where other measures might seem to us more direct, to strengthen the arm of our country by union under them, and to reserve ourselves for judging them at the constitutional period of election.

I pray you to tender to your society, of which you are a committee, my thanks for the indulgence with which they have viewed my conduct, with the assurance of my high respect, and to accept yourselves my friendly and respectful salutations.

TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA.

January 10, 1808.

The wrongs our country has suffered, fellow citizens, by violations of those moral rules which the Author of our nature has implanted in man as the law of his nature, to govern him in his associated, as well as individual character, have been such as justly to excite the sensibilities you express, and a deep abhorrence at indications threatening a substitution of power for right in the intercourse between nations. Not less worthy of your indignation have been the machinations of parricides who have endeavored to bring into danger the union of these States, and to subvert, for the purposes of inordinate ambition, a government founded in the will of its citizens, and directed to no object but their happiness.

I learn, with the liveliest sentiments of gratitude and respect, your approbation of my conduct, in the various charges which my country has been pleased to confide to me at different times; and especially that the administration of our public affairs, since my accession to the chief magistracy, has been so far satisfactory, that my continuance in that office after its present term, would be acceptable to you. But, that I should lay down my charge at a proper period, is as much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years, will in fact become for life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative government, responsible at short periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle; and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish the first example of prolongation beyond the second term of office.

Truth also obliges me to add, that I am sensible of that decline which advancing years bring on; and feeling their physical, I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the first to perceive and obey this admonition of nature, and to solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of age.

Declining a re-election on grounds which cannot but be approved, it will be the great comfort of my future days, and the satisfactory reward of a service of forty years, to carry into retirement such testimonies as you have been pleased to give, of the approbation and good will of my fellow citizens generally. And I supplicate the Being in whose hands we all are, to preserve our country in freedom and independence, and to bestow on yourselves the blessings of his favor.

TO THE SOCIETY OF TAMMANY, OR COLUMBIAN ORDER, NO. 1, OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

February 29, 1808.

I have received your address, fellow citizens, and, thankful for the expressions so personally gratifying to myself, I contemplate with high satisfaction the ardent spirit it breathes of love to our country, and of devotion to its liberty and independence. The crisis in which it is placed, cannot but be unwelcome to those who love peace, yet spurn at a tame submission to wrong. So fortunately remote from the theatre of European contests, and carefully avoiding to implicate ourselves in them, we had a right to hope for an exemption from the calamities which have afflicted the contending nations, and to be permitted unoffendingly to pursue paths of industry and peace.

But the ocean, which, like the air, is the common birth-right of mankind, is arbitrarily wrested from us, and maxims consecrated by time, by usage, and by an universal sense of right, are trampled on by superior force. To give time for this demoralizing tempest to pass over, one measure only remained which might cover our beloved country from its overwhelming fury: an appeal to the deliberate understanding of our fellow citizens in a cessation of all intercourse with the belligerent nations, until it can be resumed under the protection of a returning sense of the moral obligations which constitute a law for nations as well as individuals. There can be no question, in a mind truly American, whether it is best to send our citizens and property into certain captivity, and then wage war for their recovery, or to keep them at home, and to turn seriously to that policy which plants the manufacturer and the husbandman side by side, and establishes at the door of every one that exchange of mutual labors and comforts, which we have hitherto sought in distant regions, and under perpetual risk of broils with them. Between these alternatives your address has soundly decided, and I doubt not your aid, and that of every real and faithful citizen, towards carrying into effect the measures of your country, and enforcing the sacred principle, that in opposing foreign wrong there must be but one mind.

I receive with sensibility your kind prayers for my future happiness, and I supplicate a protecting providence to watch over your own and our country's freedom and welfare.

TO THE DELEGATES OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICANS OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA IN GENERAL WARD COMMITTEE ASSEMBLED.

May 25, 1808.

The epoch, fellow citizens, into which our lot has fallen, has indeed been fruitful of events, which require vigilance, and embarrass deliberation. That during such a period of difficulty, and amidst the perils surrounding us, the public measures which have been pursued should meet your approbation, is a source of great satisfaction. It was not expected in this age, that nations so honorably distinguished by their advances in science and civilization, would suddenly cast away the esteem they had merited from the world, and, revolting from the empire of morality, assume a character in history, which all the tears of their posterity will never wash from its pages. But during this delirium of the warring powers, the ocean having become a field of lawless violence, a suspension of our navigation for a time was equally necessary to avoid contest, or enter it with advantage. This measure will, indeed, produce some temporary inconvenience; but promises lasting good by promoting among ourselves the establishment of manufactures hitherto sought abroad, at the risk of collisions no longer regulated by the laws of reason or morality.

It is to be lamented that any of our citizens, not thinking with the mass of the nation as to the principles of our government, or of its administration, and seeing all its proceedings with a prejudiced eye, should so misconceive and misrepresent our situation as to encourage aggressions from foreign nations. Our expectation is, that their distempered views will be understood by others as they are by ourselves; but should wars be the consequence of these delusions, and the errors of our dissatisfied citizens find atonement only in the blood of their sounder brethren, we must meet it as an evil necessarily flowing from that liberty of speaking and writing which guards our other liberties; and I have entire confidence in the assurances that your ardor will be animated, in the conflicts brought on, by considerations of the necessity, honor, and justice of our cause.

I sincerely thank you, fellow citizens, for the concern you so kindly express for my future happiness. It is a high and abundant reward for endeavors to be useful; and I supplicate the care of Providence over the well-being of yourselves and our beloved country.

TO THE LEGISLATURE, COUNCIL, AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE TERRITORY OF ORLEANS.

WASHINGTON, June 18, 1808.

I received, fellow citizens, with a just sensibility, the expressions of esteem and approbation, communicated in your kind address of the 29th of March, and am thankful for them. The motives which have led to my retirement from office were dictated by a sense of duty, and will, I trust, be approved by my fellow citizens generally.

It is, indeed, a source of real concern that an impartial neutrality scrupulously observed towards the belligerent nations of Europe, has not been sufficient to protect us against encroachments on our rights; and, although deprecating war, should no alternative be presented us but disgraceful submission to unlawful pretensions, I have entire confidence in your assurances that you will cheerfully submit to whatever sacrifices and privations may be necessary for vindicating the rights, the honor, and independence of our nation.

Far from a disposition to avail ourselves of the peculiar situation of any belligerent nation to ask concessions incompatible with their rights, with justice, or reciprocity, we have never proposed to any the sacrifice of a single right; and in consideration of existing circumstances, we have ever been willing, where our duty to other nations permitted us, to relax for a time, and in some cases, that strictness of right which the laws of nature, the acknowledgments of the civilized world, and the equality and independence of nations entitle us to. Should, therefore, excessive and continued injury compel at length a resort to the means of self-redress, we are strong in the consciousness that no wrong committed on our part, no precipitancy in repelling the wrongs committed by others, no want of moderation in our exactions of voluntary justice, but undeniable aggressions on us, and the avowed purpose of continuing them, will have produced a recurrence so little consonant with our principles or inclinations.

To carry with me into retirement the approbation and esteem of my fellow citizens, will, indeed, be the highest reward they can confer on me, and certainly the only one I have ever desired. I invoke the favor of heaven, fellow citizens, towards yourselves and our beloved country.

TO THE LEGISLATURE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

August 2, 1808.

In the review, fellow citizens, which, in your address of the 14th of June, you have taken of the measures pursued since I have been charged with their direction, I read with great satisfaction and thankfulness, the approbation you have bestowed on them; and I feel it an ample reward for any services I may have been able to render.

The present moment is certainly eventful, and one which peculiarly requires that the bond of confederation connecting us as a nation should receive all the strength which unanimity between the national councils and the State legislatures can give it.

The depredations committed on our vessels and property on the high seas, the violences to the persons of our citizens employed on that element, had long been the subject of remonstrance and complaint, when, instead of reparation, new declarations of wrong are issued, subjecting our navigation to general plunder. In this state of things our first duty was to withdraw our sea-faring citizens and property from abroad, and to keep at home resources so valuable at all times, and so essential, if resort must ultimately be had to force.

It gave us time, too, to make a last appeal to the reason and reputation of nations. In the meanwhile I see with satisfaction that this measure of self-denial is approved and supported by the great body of our real citizens; that they meet with cheerfulness the temporary privations it occasions, and are preparing with spirit to provide for themselves those comforts and conveniences of life, for which it would be unwise evermore to recur to distant countries. How long this course may be preferable to a more serious appeal, must depend for decision on the wisdom of the legislature; unless, indeed, a return to established principles should remove the existing obstacles to a peaceable intercourse with foreign nations. In every event, fellow citizens, my confidence is entire that your resolution to maintain our national independence and sovereignty will be as firm as it has been forbearing; and looking back on our history, I am assured by the past, that its future pages will present nothing unworthy of the former.

I am happy that you approve of the motives of my retirement. I shall carry into it ardent prayers for the welfare of my country, and the sincerest wishes for that of yourselves personally.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR LANGDON.

August 2, 1808.

I received in due time your favor of June 24th, covering the address of the House of Representatives and Senate of New Hampshire, and I ask leave, through the same channel, to return the enclosed answer, to be communicated to them in whatever way you think most acceptable. Highly gratified by this approbation of the legislature of your State, as it respects myself personally, the moment at which it is expressed gives it peculiar value as a public document. It is the testimony of a respectable legislature in favor of a measure submitting our fellow citizens to some present sufferings to preserve them from future and greater, and cannot fail to strengthen the disposition to maintain it which I am happy to perceive is so general. I tender you my affectionate salutations, and with every wish for your health and happiness, the assurance of my high respect and consideration.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR LANGDON. (PRIVATE.)

MONTICELLO, August 2, 1808.

MY DEAR SIR,--The enclosed are formal, and for the public; but in sending them to you I cannot omit the occasion of indulging my friendship in a more familiar way, and of recalling myself to your recollection. How much have I wished to have had you still with us through the years of my employment at Washington. I have seen with great pleasure the moderation and circumspection with which you have been kind enough to act under my letter of May 6th, and I have been highly gratified with the late general expressions of public sentiment in favor of a measure which alone could have saved us from immediate war, and give time to call home eighty millions of property, twenty or thirty thousand seamen, and two thousand vessels. These are now nearly at home, and furnish a great capital, much of which will go into manufactures and seamen to man a fleet of privateers, whenever our citizens shall prefer war to a longer continuance of the embargo. Perhaps, however, the whale of the ocean may be tired of the solitude it has made on that element, and return to honest principles, and his brother robber on the land may see that, as to us, the grapes are sour. I think one war enough for the life of one man; and you and I have gone through one which at least may lessen our impatience to embark in another. Still, if it becomes necessary, we must meet it like men, old men indeed, but yet good for something. But whether in peace or war, may you have as many years of life as you desire, with health and prosperity to make them happy years. I salute you with constant affection and great esteem and respect.

TO THE HONORABLE JOSEPH ALSTON, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

MONTICELLO, August 4, 1808.

SIR,--I have duly received your letter of July 6th, covering the resolutions of the legislature of South Carolina of June 29th, and I see in those resolutions a new manifestation of the national spirit of which South Carolina has given so many proofs. It is the more exemplary, as it is certain that no State sacrifices more by the operation of a measure which, whether to avoid war, or to prepare for it, has been deemed equally necessary. The unanimity too of these resolutions, does peculiar honor to those individuals, who differing from the mass of their fellow citizens in their opinions of government, yet forget all differences when the rights of their country are in question; who when it is assailed by foreign wrong, and menaced with the evils of war, instead of encouraging enemies by forebodings of weakness and division, present to them one common and undivided front. Persuaded that the sentiments expressed in these resolutions are a true specimen of those entertained by the great mass of our fellow citizens, we may regret the evils which a contrary opinion in others may produce, but we cannot fear the result of any trial they may put us to.

I receive with particular gratification assurances of approbation from the legislature of South Carolina, and will not cease in my endeavors to merit a continuance of it. I pray you to accept my salutations and assurances of great respect and consideration.

TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON, NEWBURYPORT AND PROVIDENCE, IN LEGAL TOWN MEETING ASSEMBLED.

August 26, 1808.

Your representation and request were received on the 22d inst., and have been considered with the attention due to every expression of the sentiments and feelings of so respectable a body of my fellow citizens. No person has seen, with more concern than myself, the inconveniences brought on our country in general by the circumstances of the times in which we happen to live; times to which the history of nations presents no parallel. For years we have been looking as spectators on our brethren of Europe, afflicted by all those evils which necessarily follow an abandonment of the moral rules which bind men and nations together. Connected with them in friendship and commerce, we have happily so far kept aloof from their calamitous conflicts, by a steady observance of justice towards all, by much forbearance and multiplied sacrifices. At length, however, all regard to the rights of others having been thrown aside, the belligerent powers have beset the highway of commercial intercourse with edicts which, taken together, expose our commerce and mariners, under almost every destination, a prey to their fleets and armies. Each party, indeed, would admit our commerce with themselves, with the view of associating us in their war against the other. But we have wished war with neither. Under these circumstances were passed the laws of which you complain, by those delegated to exercise the powers of legislation for you, with every sympathy of a common interest in exercising them faithfully. In reviewing these measures, therefore, we should advert to the difficulties out of which a choice was of necessity to be made. To have submitted our rightful commerce to prohibitions and tributary exactions from others, would have been to surrender our independence. To resist them by arms was war, without consulting the state of things or the choice of the nation. The alternative preferred by the legislature of suspending a commerce placed under such unexampled difficulties, besides saving to our citizens their property, and our mariners to their country, has the peculiar advantage of giving time to the belligerent nations to revise a conduct as contrary to their interests as it is to our rights.

"In the event of such peace, or suspension of hostilities between the belligerent powers of Europe, or of such change in their measures affecting neutral commerce, as may render that of the United States sufficiently safe, in the judgment of the President," he is authorized to suspend the embargo. But no peace or suspension of hostilities, no change of measures affecting neutral commerce, is known to have taken place. The orders of England, and the decrees of France and Spain, existing at the date of these laws, are still unrepealed, as far as we know. In Spain, indeed, a contest for the government appears to have arisen; but of its course or prospects we have no information on which prudence would undertake a hasty change in our policy, even were the authority of the Executive competent to such a decision.

You desire that, in this defect of power, Congress may be specially convened. It is unnecessary to examine the evidence or the character of the facts which are supposed to dictate such a call; because you will be sensible, on an attention to dates, that the legal period of their meeting is as early as, in this extensive country, they could be fully convened by a special call.

I should, with great willingness, have executed the wishes of the inhabitants of the town of Boston, Newburyport, and Providence, had peace, or a repeal of the obnoxious edicts, or other charges, produced the case in which alone the laws have given me that authority; and so many motives of justice and interest lead to such changes, that we ought continually to expect them. But while these edicts remain, the legislature alone can prescribe the course to be pursued.

TO A PORTION OF THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON.

SIR,--I have duly received the address of that portion of the citizens of [Boston] who have declared their approbation of the present suspension of our commerce, and their dissent from the representation of those of the same place, who wished its removal. A division of sentiment was not unexpected. On no question can a perfect unanimity be hoped, or certainly it would have been on that between war and embargo, the only alternatives presented to our choice. For the general capture of our vessels would have been war on one side, which reason and interest would repel by war and reprisal on our part.

Of the several interests composing those of the United States, that of manufactures would of course prefer to war a state of non-intercourse, so favorable to their rapid growth and prosperity. Agriculture, although sensibly feeling the loss of market for its produce, would find many aggravations in a state of war. Commerce and navigation, or that portion which is foreign, in the inactivity to which they are reduced by the present state of things, certainly experience their full share in the general inconvenience; but whether war would to them be a preferable alternative, is a question their patriotism would never hastily propose. It is to be regretted, however, that overlooking the real sources of their sufferings, the British and French edicts, which constitute the actual blockade of our foreign commerce and navigation, they have, with too little reflection, imputed them to laws which have saved them from greater, and have preserved for our own use our vessels, property and seamen, instead of adding them to the strength of those with whom we might eventually have to contend.

The embargo, giving time to the belligerent powers to revise their unjust proceedings, and to listen to the dictates of justice, of interest and reputation, which equally urge the correction of their wrongs, has availed our country of the only honorable expedient for avoiding war; and should a repeal of these edicts supersede the cause for it, our commercial brethren will become sensible that it has consulted their interests, however against their own will. It will be unfortunate for their country if, in the meantime, these their expressions of impatience should have the effect of prolonging the very sufferings which have produced them, by exciting a fallacious hope that we may, under any pressure, relinquish our equal right of navigating the ocean, go to such ports only as others may prescribe, and there pay the tributary exactions they may impose; an abandonment of national independence and of essential rights, revolting to every manly sentiment. While these edicts are in force, no American can ever consent to a return of peaceable intercourse with those who maintain them.

I am happy, in the approach of the period when the feelings and the wisdom of the nation will be collected in their representatives assembled together. To them are committed our rights, to them our wrongs are known, and they will pronounce the remedy they call for; and I hear with pleasure from all, as well those who approve, as who disapprove of the present measures, assurances of an implicit acquiescence in their enunciation of the general will.

I beg leave through you to communicate this answer to the address on which your signature held the first place, and to add the assurances of my respect.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BALTIMORE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.

October 17, 1808.

I receive with great pleasure the friendly address of the Baltimore Baptist Association, and am sensible how much I am indebted to the kind dispositions which dictated it.

In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not fail to become a primary object. All men felt the right, and a just animation to obtain it was exhibited by all. I was one only among the many who befriended its establishment, and am entitled but in common with others to a portion of that approbation which follows the fulfilment of a duty.

Excited by wrongs to reject a foreign government which directed our concerns according to its own interests, and not to ours, the principles which justified us were obvious to all understandings, they were imprinted in the breast of every human being; and Providence ever pleases to direct the issue of our contest in favor of that side where justice was. Since this happy separation, our nation has wisely avoided entangling itself in the system of European interests, has taken no side between its rival powers, attached itself to none of its ever-changing confederacies. Their peace is desirable; and you do me justice in saying that to preserve and secure this, has been the constant aim of my administration. The difficulties which involve it, however, are now at their ultimate term, and what will be their issue, time alone will disclose. But be it what it may, a recollection of our former vassalage in religion and civil government, will unite the zeal of every heart, and the energy of every hand, to preserve that independence in both which, under the favor of heaven, a disinterested devotion to the public cause first achieved, and a disinterested sacrifice of private interests will now maintain.

I am happy in your approbation of my reasons for determining to retire from a station, in which the favor of my fellow citizens has so long continued and supported me: I return your kind prayers with supplications to the same almighty Being for your future welfare and that of our beloved country.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE KETOCTON BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.

October 18, 1808.

I received with great pleasure the affectionate address of the Ketocton Baptist Association, and am sensible how much I am indebted to the kind dispositions which dictated it.

In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not fail to become a primary object. All men felt the right, and a just animation to obtain it was excited in all. And although your favor selected me as the organ of your petition to abolish the religious denomination of a privileged church, yet I was but one of the many who befriended its object, and am entitled but in common with them to a portion of that approbation which follows the fulfilment of a duty.

The views you express of the conduct of the belligerent powers are as correct as they are afflicting to the lovers of justice and humanity. Those moral principles and conventional usages which have heretofore been the bond of civilized nations, which have so often preserved their peace by furnishing common rules for the measure of their rights, have now given way to force, the law of Barbarians, and the nineteenth century dawns with the Vandalism of the fifth. Nothing has been spared on our part to preserve the peace of our country, during this distempered state of the world. But the difficulties which involve it are now at their ultimate term, and what will be their issue, time alone will disclose. But be that what it may, a recollection of our former vassalage in religion and civil government will unite the zeal of every heart, and the energy of every hand, to preserve that independence in both, which, under the favor of heaven, a disinterested devotion to the public cause first achieved, and a disinterested sacrifice of private interests will now maintain.

I am happy in your approbation of my reasons for determining to retire from a station in which the favor of my fellow citizens has so long continued and supported me; and I return your kind prayers by supplications to the same Almighty being for your future welfare, and that of our beloved country.

TO THE GENERAL MEETING OF CORRESPONDENCE OF THE SIX BAPTIST ASSOCIATIONS REPRESENTED AT CHESTERFIELD, VIRGINIA.

November 21, 1808.

Thank you, fellow citizens, for your affectionate address, and I receive with satisfaction your approbation of my motives for retirement. In reviewing the history of the times through which we have past, no portion of it gives greater satisfaction, on reflection, than that which presents the efforts of the friends of religious freedom, and the success with which they were crowned. We have solved by fair experiment, the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government, and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason, and the serious convictions of his own inquiries.

It is a source of great contentment to me to learn that the measures which have been pursued in the administration of your affairs have met your approbation. Too often we have had but a choice among difficulties; and this situation characterizes remarkably the present moment. But, fellow citizens, if we are faithful to our country, if we acquiesce, with good will, in the decisions of the majority, and the nation moves in mass in the same direction, although it may not be that which every individual thinks best, we have nothing to fear from any quarter.

I thank you sincerely for your kind wishes for my welfare, and with equal sincerity implore the favor of a protecting Providence for yourselves.

TO TABER FITCH, ESQ., CHAIRMAN.

WASHINGTON, November 21, 1808.

SIR,--I have received with great pleasure the address of the republicans of the State of Connecticut, and am particularly sensible of the kindness with which they have viewed my conduct in the direction of their affairs. Having myself highly approved the example of an illustrious predecessor, in voluntarily retiring from a trust, which, if too long continued in the same hands, might become a subject of reasonable uneasiness and apprehension, I could not mistake my own duty when placed in a similar situation.

Our experience so far, has satisfactorily manifested the competence of a republican government to maintain and promote the best interests of its citizens; and every future year, I doubt not, will contribute to settle a question on which reason, and a knowledge of the character and circumstances of our fellow citizens, could never admit a doubt, and much less condemn them as fit subjects to be consigned to the dominion of wealth and force. Although under the pressure of serious evils at this moment, the governments of the other hemisphere cannot boast a more favorable situation. We certainly do not wish to exchange our difficulties for the sanguinary distresses of our fellow men beyond the water. In a state of the world unparalleled in times past, and never again to be expected, according to human probabilities, no form of government has, so far, better shielded its citizens from the prevailing afflictions. By withdrawing awhile from the ocean we have suffered some loss; but we have gathered home our immense capital. Exposed to foreign depredation, we have saved our seamen from the jails of Europe, and gained time to prepare for the defence of our country. The questions of submission, of war, or embargo, are now before our country as unembarrassed as at first. Submission and tribute, if that be our choice, will be no baser now than at the date of the embargo. But if, as I trust, that idea be spurned, we may now decide on the other alternatives of war and embargo, with the advantage of possessing all the means which have been rescued from the grasp of capture. These advantages certainly justify the approbation of the embargo declared in your address, and I have no doubt will ensure that of every candid citizen, who will correctly trace the consequences of any other course.

I thank you for the kind concern you are pleased to express for my future happiness, and offer my sincere prayers for your welfare and prosperity.

TO THE YOUNG REPUBLICANS OF PITTSBURG AND ITS VICINITIES.

December 2, 1808.

The sentiments which you express in your address of October 27th, of attachment to the rights of your country, of your determination to support them with your lives and fortunes, and of disregard of the inconveniences which must be encountered in resisting insult and aggression, are honorable to yourselves, and encouraging to your country. They are particularly solacing to those who, having labored faithfully in establishing the right of self-government, see in the rising generation, into whose hands it is passing, that purity of principle, and energy of character, which will protect and preserve it through their day, and deliver it over to their sons as they receive it from their fathers. The measure of a temporary suspension of commerce was adopted to cover us from greater evils. It has rescued from capture an important capital, and our seamen from the jails of Europe. It has given time to prepare for defence, and has shown to the aggressors of Europe that evil, as well as good actions, recoil on the doers. If these evils have involved our inoffending neighbors also, towards whom we have not a sentiment but of friendship and useful intercourse, it results from that state of violence by which the interests of the American hemisphere are directed to the objects of Europe. Endowed by nature with a system of interests and connections of its own, it is drawn from these by the unnatural bonds which enchain its different parts to the conflicting interests and fortunes of another world, and render its inhabitants strangers and enemies, to their neighbors and mutual friends.

Believing that the happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace, that on these alone a stable prosperity can be founded, that the evils of war are great in their endurance, and have a long reckoning for ages to come, I have used my best endeavors to keep our country uncommitted in the troubles which afflict Europe, and which assail us on every side. Whether this can be done longer, is to be doubted. I am happy that so far my conduct meets the approbation of my fellow citizens. It is the highest reward I can receive for my endeavors to serve them; and I am particularly thankful to yourselves for the kind expressions of esteem and confidence, and tender my best wishes for your personal happiness and prosperity.

TO THE SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

WASHINGTON, December 9, 1808.

I am much indebted, fellow citizens, for your friendly address of November 20th, and gratified by its expressions of personal regard to myself. Having ever been an advocate for the freedom of religious opinion and exercise, from no person, certainly, was an abridgment of these sacred rights to be apprehended less than from myself.

In justice, too, to our excellent constitution, it ought to be observed, that it has not placed our religious rights under the power of any public functionary. The power, therefore, was wanting, not less than the will, to injure these rights.

The times in which we live, fellow citizens, are indeed times of trouble, such as no age has yet seen, or perhaps will ever see again. To avoid their calamitous influence, has been our duty and endeavor, and to effect it, great sacrifices of our citizens have been necessary. They have seen that these necessities were forced by the wrongs of others, and they have met them with the zeal which the crisis called for. What course we are finally to take, cannot yet be foreseen; but reading, reflecting, and examining for yourselves, you will find your public functionaries, according to the best of their judgments, directing your affairs, without passion or partiality, with a single view to your rights and best interests. And it is the approbation of those who so read, reflect, and examine for themselves, which is so truly consoling to the persons charged with the guidance of your affairs. For that portion of your approbation which you are pleased to bestow on my conduct, I am truly thankful, and I offer my sincere prayers for your welfare, and a happy issue of our country from the difficulties impending over it.

TO THE ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF ONTARIO, IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

December 13, 1808.

The wrongs which we have sustained, fellow citizens, from the belligerent powers of Europe, and of which you have taken so just a view in your address, received by me on the 27th of the last month, could not fail to excite in the bosoms of freemen the sentiments of high indignation expressed by you. The love of peace had long induced us to bear with these aggressions, and the hope of a return to a spirit of justice had encouraged us to persevere in endeavors at amicable adjustment. Their outrages, however, have at length forced us to suspend all intercourse with them, to gather home our resources, and to prepare for whatever may happen. Your approbation of these measures is gratifying to your public functionaries, and the readiness you express to encounter the privations and sacrifices which these aggressions occasion, is honorable to yourselves. The legislature of the nation now assembled together, will decide how long the state of non-intercourse may be preferable to a more serious appeal. The decided support which you tender either of the present, or such other measures as they shall adopt for the good of the Union, and the pledge of your lives, your fortunes and honor for that purpose, are calculated to inspire them with firmness in their deliberations, and an assurance that the result will be supported by their country. The confidence you are so good as to express in the conduct of the administration, is highly gratifying to them, and encourages a perseverance in their best endeavors for the public good. That these may issue in effecting your happiness, and the peace and prosperity of our country, is my sincere prayer.

TO THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA IN TOWN-MEETING ASSEMBLED.

February 3, 1809.

In the resolutions and address which you have been pleased to present to me, I recognize with great satisfaction the sentiments of faithful citizens, devoted to the maintenance of the rights of their country, to the sacred bond which unites these States together, and rallying round their government in support of its laws. After the intolerable assault on our maritime rights, by the declarations of the belligerent powers, that we should navigate the ocean only as they should permit, the recall of our seamen, recovery of our property abroad, and putting ourselves into a state of defence, should perseverance on their parts force us to the last appeal, were duties to first obligation. No other course was left us but to reduce our navigation within the limits they dictated, and to hold even that subject to such further restrictions as their interests or will should prescribe. To this no friend to the independence of his country should submit.

Your resolution to aid in bringing to justice all violators of the laws of their country, and particularly of the embargo laws, and to be ready at all times to assist in carrying them into effect, is worthy of the patriotism which distinguishes the city and county of Philadelphia. This voluntary support of laws, formed by persons of our own choice, distinguishes peculiarly the minds capable of self-government. The contrary spirit is anarchy, which of necessity produces despotism. It is from the supporters of regular government only that the pledge of life, fortune, and honor is worthy of confidence.

I learn with great satisfaction your approbation of the several measures passed by the government, and enumerated in your address. For the advantages flowing from them you are indebted principally to a wise and patriotic legislature, and to the able and inestimable coadjutors with whom it has been my good fortune to be associated in the direction of your affairs. That these measures may be productive of the ends intended, must be the wish of every friend of his country; and the belief that everything has been done to preserve our peace, secure the rights of our fellow citizens, and to promote their best interests, will be a consolation under every situation to which the great disposer of events may destine us.

Your approbation of the motives for my retirement from the station so long confided to me, is a confirmation of their correctness. In no office can rotation be more expedient; and none less admits the indulgence of age. I am peculiarly sensible of your kind wishes for my happiness in the tranquillity of retirement. Nothing will contribute more to it than the hope of carrying with me the approbation of my fellow citizens, of the endeavors which I have faithfully exerted to be useful to them. To the all-protecting favor of heaven I commit yourselves and our common country.

TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA.

February 3, 1809.

The address which the Legislature of Georgia, the immediate organ of the will of their constituents, has been pleased to present to me, is received with that high satisfaction which the approbation of so respectable a State is calculated to inspire. During the unexampled contest which has so long afflicted Europe, which has prostrated all the laws which have hitherto been deemed sacred among nations, and have so long constituted the rule of their intercourse, we had vainly hoped that our distance from the scene of carnage, and the invariable justice with which we have conducted ourselves towards all parties, would shield us from its baleful effects. But that commerce indispensably necessary for the exchange of the produce of this great agricultural country for the things which we want, increased by a temporary succession to the commerce of other nations, as being ourselves the only neutrals, has brought us into contact with the lawless belligerents in every sea, and threatens to involve us in the vortex of their contests. The privations for the want of a vent for our produce, have been the unavoidable result of the edicts of the belligerent powers. Should the measure adopted in consequence of them, and which meets your approbation, still save the lives and property of our brethren from the insults and rapacity of these powers, it will be a fortunate addition to the other benefits derived from it. On the other hand, should our present embarrassments eventuate in war, I am satisfied that the State of Georgia will zealously emulate her sister States in supporting the government of their choice, and in maintaining the rights and interests of the nation. Our soil, our industry, and our numbers, with the bravery which will be engaged in the cause, can never leave us without resources to maintain such a contest.

To no events which can concern the future welfare of my country, can I ever become an indifferent spectator; her prosperity will be my joy, her calamities my affliction.

Thankful for the indulgence with which my conduct has been viewed by the Legislature of Georgia, and for the kind expressions of their good will, I supplicate the favor of heaven towards them and our beloved country.

TO THE SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT.

February 4, 1809.

The approbation you are so good as to express of the measures which have been recommended and pursued during the course of my administration of the national concerns, is highly acceptable. The approving voice of our fellow citizens, for endeavors to be useful, is the greatest of all earthly rewards.

No provision in our constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority. It has not left the religion of its citizens under the power of its public functionaries, were it possible that any of these should consider a conquest over the consciences of men either attainable or applicable to any desirable purpose. To me no information could be more welcome than that the minutes of the several religious societies should prove, of late, larger additions than have been usual, to their several associations, and I trust that the whole course of my life has proved me a sincere friend to religious as well as civil liberty.

I thank you for your affectionate good wishes for my future happiness. Retirement has become essential to it; and one of its best consolations will be to witness the advancement of my country in all those pursuits and acquisitions which constitute the character of a wise and virtuous nation; and I offer sincere prayers to heaven that its benediction may attend yourselves, our country and all its sons.

TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA.

February 16, 1809.

I receive with peculiar sensibility the affectionate address of the General Assembly of my native State, on my approaching retirement from the office with which I have been honored by the nation at large. Having been one of those who entered into public life at the commencement of an æra the most extraordinary which the history of man has ever yet presented to his contemplation, I claim nothing more, for the part I have acted in it, than a common merit of having, with others, faithfully endeavored to do my duty in the several stations allotted me. In the measures which you are pleased particularly to approve, I have been aided by the wisdom and patriotism of the national legislature, and the talents and virtues of the able coadjutors with whom it has been my happiness to be associated, and to whose valuable and faithful services I with pleasure and gratitude bear witness.

From the moment that to preserve our rights a change of government became necessary, no doubt could be entertained that a republican form was most consonant with reason, with right, with the freedom of man, and with the character and situation of our fellow citizens. To the sincere spirit of republicanism are naturally associated the love of country, devotion to its liberty, its rights, and its honor. Our preference to that form of government has been so far justified by its success, and the prosperity with which it has blessed us. In no portion of the earth were life, liberty and property ever so securely held; and it is with infinite satisfaction that withdrawing from the active scenes of life, I see the sacred design of these blessings committed to those who are sensible of their value and determined to defend them.

It would have been a great consolation to have left the nation under the assurance of continued peace. Nothing has been spared to effect it; and at no other period of history would such efforts have failed to ensure it. For neither belligerent pretends to have been injured by us, or can say that we have in any instance departed from the most faithful neutrality; and certainly none will charge us with a want of forbearance.

In the desire of peace, but in full confidence of safety from our unity, our position, and our resources, I shall retire into the bosom of my native State, endeared to me by every tie which can attach the human heart. The assurances of your approbation, and that my conduct has given satisfaction to my fellow citizens generally, will be an important ingredient in my future happiness; and that the supreme ruler of the universe may have our country under his special care, will be among the latest of my prayers.

TO THE CITIZENS OF WILMINGTON AND ITS VICINITY IN TOWN MEETING ASSEMBLED.

February 16, 1809.

The resolutions which have been entered into by the citizens of Wilmington and its vicinity, are worthy of the well-known patriotism of that place.

The storm which with little intermission has been raging for so many years, which has immolated the ancient dynasties and institutions of Europe, and prostrated the principles of public law heretofore respected, has hitherto been felt but in a secondary degree by us. But threatening at length to involve us in its vortex, it is time for all good citizens to rally round the constituted authorities by a public expression of their determination to support the laws and government of their choice, and to frown into silence all disorganizing movements. Strong in our numbers, our position and resources, we can never be endangered but by schisms at home. It has been the anxious care of the government to preserve the United States from this destructive contest; but whether it can yet be done depends on a return to reason by those who have so long rejected its dictates. On our part, there is no doubt of a continuance of the same desire to conduct the nation quietly through the political storms prevailing, and to lead it in safety through the perils with which we are menaced by the ambition of foreign nations.

I am thankful for the great indulgence with which you have viewed the measures of my administration. Of their wisdom others must judge; but I may truly say they have been pursued with honest intentions, unbiassed by any personal or interested views. It is a consolation to know that the motives for my retirement are approved; and although I withdraw from public functions, I shall continue an anxious spectator of passing events, and offer to heaven my constant prayers for the preservation of our republic, and especially of those its best principles which secure to all its citizens a perfect equality of rights.

TO JOHN GASSAWAY, ESQ.

WASHINGTON, February 17, 1809.

SIR,--I have duly received the resolutions of the republican citizens of Annapolis and Anne-Arundel county, of the 4th inst., which you were so kind as to forward to me.

That the aggressions and injuries of the belligerent nations have been the real obstructions which have interrupted our commerce, and now threaten our peace, and that the embargo laws were salutary and indispensably necessary to meet those obstructions, are truths as evident to every candid man, as it is worthy of every good citizen to declare his reprobation of that system of opposition which goes to an avowed and practical resistance of these laws. To such a resistance I trust that the patriotism of our faithful citizens in no section of the Union will give any countenance. Where the law of majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends, the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take them.

I receive with particular pleasure and thankfulness the testimony of the republican citizens of Annapolis and Anne-Arundel, in favor of the course of proceedings during my administration of the public affairs. And I can truly say, in their words, that they have been conducted with the purest regard and devotion to the interests of the people and the national safety and honor; and I pray you, with my acknowledgments for these favorable sentiments, to accept the assurances of my high respect and consideration.

TO CAPTAIN JOSEPH ----, JR.

WASHINGTON, February 17, 1809.

SIR,--The resolutions entered into at a meeting of the officers of the Legionary Brigade of the 1st Division of Massachusetts militia, on the 31st ult., which you have been pleased to forward to me, breathe that spirit of fidelity to our common country which must ever be peculiarly the spirit of its militia, and which renders that the safest and last reliance of a republican nation. The perils with which we have been for some time environed, have been such as ought to have induced every faithful citizen to unite in support of the rights of his country, laying aside little differences, political or personal, till they might be indulged without hazarding the safety of our country. Assailed in our essential rights by two of the most powerful nations on the globe, we have remonstrated, negotiated, and at length retired to the last stand, in the hope of peaceably preserving our rights. In this extremity I have entire confidence that no part of _the people_ in any section of the Union, will desert the banners of their country, and co-operate with the enemies who are threatening its existence. The subscribing officers of the legionary brigade have furnished an honorable example of declaring their attachment to the constitution, the laws, and the union of the States, that they will at the call of law, rally around the standard of their country, and protect its constitution, laws, right and liberties, against all foes. I thank them, in the name of their country, for these patriotic resolutions, the pledge of support they tender will lead them to no more than the honor of a soldier and fidelity of a citizen would of itself require. I salute yourself and the subscribing offices with esteem and respect.

TO THE REPUBLICAN YOUNG MEN OF NEW LONDON, BENJAMIN HEMPSTEAD CHAIRMAN.

February 24, 1809.

The approbation which you are pleased to express of my past administration, is highly gratifying to me. That in a free government there should be differences of opinion as to public measures and the conduct of those who direct them, is to be expected. It is much, however, to be lamented, that these differences should be indulged at a crisis which calls for the undivided councils and energies of our country, and in a form calculated to encourage our enemies in the refusal of justice, and to force their country into war as the only resource for obtaining it.

You do justice to the government in believing that their utmost endeavors have been used to steer us clear of wars with other nations, and honor to yourselves in declaring that if these endeavors prove ineffectual, and your country is called upon to defend its rights and injured honor by an appeal to arms, you will be ready for the contest, and will meet our enemies at the threshold of our country. While prudence will endeavor to avoid this issue, bravery will prepare to meet it.

I thank you, fellow citizens, for your kind expressions of regard for myself, and prayers for my future happiness, and I join in supplications to that Almighty Being who has heretofore guarded our councils, still to continue his gracious benedictions towards our country, and that yourselves may be under the protection of his divine favor.

TO THE REPUBLICANS OF LOUDON COUNTY, CONVENED AT LEESBURG, FEBRUARY, 13, 1809.

February 24, 1809.

The measures lately pursued in preference either to war or an ignominious surrender of our rights as an independent people, have undoubtedly produced the beneficial effects of saving our property and seamen, of lengthening the term of our peace, and of giving time for defensive preparations. Other efficacious results would probably have been produced, in a much higher degree, had not the measures been counteracted by unworthy passions. It is still possible that the blessings of peace may be continued to us, should sounder calculations of interest induce a return to justice by the aggressive nations. But should we be disappointed in what ought to be so justly expected, the solemn pledge of life and fortune in vindication of our violated rights received from yourselves as well as from other citizens, leaves us without apprehension as to the issue of any contest into which we may be forced.

I thank you particularly for the approbation you manifest of my conduct and motives, and the kind concern you express for my future happiness, and I beg leave to tender you my best wishes and assurances of respect.

TO GOVERNOR TOMPKINS.

WASHINGTON, February 24, 1809.

SIR,--I received, a few days ago, your Excellency's favor of the 9th inst., covering the patriotic resolutions of the Legislature of New York, of the 3d. The times do certainly render it incumbent on all good citizens, attached to the rights and honor of their country, to bury in oblivion all internal differences, and rally around the standard of their country in opposition to the outrages of foreign nations. All attempts to enfeeble and destroy the exertions of the General Government, in vindication of our national rights, or to loosen the bands of union by alienating the affections of the people, or opposing the authority of the laws at so eventful a period, merit the discountenance of all.

The confidence which the Legislature expresses in the national administration is highly consolatory, and their determination to support the just rights of their country with their lives and fortunes, are worthy of the high character of the State of New York.

By all, I trust, the union of these States will ever be considered as the Palladium of their safety, their prosperity and glory, and all attempts to sever it will be frowned on with reprobation and abhorrence. And I have equal confidence, that all moved by the sacred principles of liberty and patriotism will prepare themselves for any crisis we may be able to meet, and will be ready to co-operate with each other, and with the constituted authorities, in resisting and repelling the aggressions of foreign nations.

The Legislature may be assured that every exertion will be used to put the United States in the best condition of defence, that we may be fully prepared to meet the dangers which menace the peace of our country. I avail myself with pleasure of every occasion to tender to your Excellency the assurances of my high respect and consideration.

TO GENERAL JAMES ROBERTSON.

WASHINGTON, February 24, 1809.

SIR,--I have duly received your letter covering the resolutions of the citizens of West Tennessee, assembled in the town of Nashville. Every friend of his country must feel the regret and indignation they so laudably express at the unjust and unprecedented measures adopted by the belligerent powers of Europe, violating our maritime rights as a free and independent nation, and compelling us for their preservation to resort to measures the effects of which we must all feel. And all must see with pleasure their honorable declaration against receding from the grounds taken with regard to the belligerent nations, and their reprobation of the surrender of any essential points in difference between us and those nations.

Should the embargo be continued, or a non-intercourse be substituted, it is pleasing to know that our fellow citizens will afford every aid in their power to render it effectual; and if war must at length be resorted to, I have entire confidence in their declarations, that as citizen soldiers they will be ready at the call of their country to prove to their enemies that they know how to value and defend their rights.

I am happy to learn their approbation of the measures adopted by the General Government in relation to Great Britain and France, and particularly thankful for the satisfaction they express with the course I have pursued in the discharge of the arduous duties which devolved on me as chief magistrate of the United States.

I pray you to accept for yourself and them the assurances of my great respect and consideration.

THE REPUBLICANS OF THE COUNTY OF NIAGARA, CONVENED AT CLARENCE ON THE 26TH OF JANUARY, 1809.

February 24, 1809.

The eventful crisis in our national affairs so truly portrayed in your very friendly address, has justly excited your serious attention. The nations of the earth prostrated at the foot of power, the ocean submitted to the despotism of a single nation, the laws of nature and the usages which have hitherto regulated the intercourse of nations and interposed some restraint between power and right, now totally disregarded. Such is the state of things when the United States are left single-handed to maintain the rights of neutrals, and the principles of public right against a warring world. Under these circumstances, it is a great consolation to receive the assurances of our faithful citizens that they will unite their destiny with their government, will rally under the banners of their country, and with their lives and fortunes, defend and support their civil and religious rights. This declaration, too, is the more honorable from those whose frontier residence will expose them particularly to the inroads of a foe.

I receive with great pleasure your approbation of the impartial neutrality we have so invariably pursued, and of the trying measure of embargo rendered necessary by the belligerent edicts, which has saved our seamen and our property, has given us time to prepare for vindicating our honor and preserving our national independence, and has excited the spirit of manufacturing for ourselves those things which, though we raised the raw material, we have hitherto sought from other countries at the risk of war and rapine.

I thank you for your kind wishes for my future happiness in retiring from public life to the bosom of my family. Nothing will contribute more to it than the assurance that my fellow citizens approve of my endeavors to serve them, and the hope that we shall be continued in the blessings we have enjoyed under the favor of Heaven.

TO CAPTAIN QUIN MORTON.

WASHINGTON, February 24, 1809.

SIR,--I have duly received your favor tendering the service of fifty citizens of Tennessee as a company of volunteer riflemen. There are two acts of Congress which regulate the acceptances of these tenders; that of the last year (1808) is for a service of six months, and authorizes the governors to accept; and that of 1807, for a service of twelve months, authorizing the President to accept, who has delegated that power to the governors of the several States. Under whichever of these, therefore, your tender was meant to be made, I must pray you to repeat it to the governor of the State; expressing, at the same time, my great satisfaction at the readiness and patriotism with which I see my fellow citizens resort to the standard of their country when danger threatens it. Accept for your company my thanks on the public behalf, and for yourself the assurances of my respect.

TO THE TAMMANY SOCIETY OR COLUMBIAN ORDER OF THE CITY OF WASHINGTON.

March 2, 1809.

The observations are but too just which are made in your friendly address, on the origin and progress of those abuses of public confidence and power which have so often terminated in a suppression of the rights of the people, and the mere aggrandizement and emolument of their oppressors. Taught by these truths, and aware of the tendency of power to degenerate into abuse, the worthies of our own country have secured its independence by the establishment of a constitution and form of government for our nation, calculated to prevent as well as to correct abuse.

Beyond the great water the torch of discord has been long lighted up, and long and unremitting have been the endeavors of the belligerents to immerge us in the evils they were inflicting on each other, and to make us parties in their quarrels. Whether it will be possible much longer to escape these evils, is difficult to decide; but you do me justice in believing that no efforts on my part have been spared to effect this purpose, and to preserve for our nation the blessings of peace.

I learn with sincere pleasure that the measures I have pursued in directing the affairs of our nation have met with approbation. Their sole object has certainly been the good of my fellow citizens, which sometimes may have been mistaken, but never intentionally disregarded. This approbation is the more valued as being the spontaneous effusion of the feelings of those who have lived in the same city with myself, and having examined carefully and even jealously my conduct through every passing day, bear testimony to their belief in its fidelity.

I am happy, in my retirement, to carry with me your esteem and your prayers for my health, peace and happiness; and I sincerely supplicate Heaven that your own personal welfare may long make a part of the general prosperity of a great, a free, and a happy people.

TO THE CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON.

March 4, 1809.

I received with peculiar gratification the affectionate address of the citizens of Washington, and in the patriotic sentiments it expresses, I see the true character of the national metropolis.

The station which we occupy among the nations of the earth is honorable, but awful. Trusted with the destinies of this solitary republic of the world, the only monument of human rights, and the sole depository of the sacred fire of freedom and self-government, from hence it is to be lighted up in other regions of the earth, if other regions of the earth shall ever become susceptible of its benign influence. All mankind ought then, with us, to rejoice in its prosperous, and sympathize in its adverse fortunes, as involving everything dear to man. And to what sacrifices of interest, or convenience, ought not these considerations to animate us? To what compromises of opinion and inclination, to maintain harmony and union among ourselves, and to preserve from all danger this hallowed ark of human hope and happiness. That differences of opinion should arise among men, on politics, on religion, and on every other topic of human inquiry, and that these should be freely expressed in a country where all our faculties are free, is to be expected. But these valuable privileges are much prevented when permitted to disturb the harmony of social intercourse, and to lesson the tolerance of opinion. To the honor of society here, it has been characterized by a just and generous liberality, and an indulgence of those affections which, without regard to political creeds, constitute the happiness of life. That the improvement of this city must proceed with sure and steady steps, follows from its many obvious advantages, and from the enterprizing spirit of its inhabitants, which promises to render it the fairest seat of wealth and science.

It is very gratifying to me that the general course of my administration is approved by my fellow citizens, and particularly that the motives of my retirement are satisfactory. I part with the powers entrusted to me by my country, as with a burthen of heavy bearing; but it is with sincere regret that I part with the society in which I have lived here. It has been the source of much happiness to me during my residence at the seat of government, and I owe it much for its kind dispositions. I shall ever feel a high interest in the prosperity of the city, and an affectionate attachment to its inhabitants.

TO THE REPUBLICANS OF GEORGETOWN.

March 8, 1809.

The affectionate address of the republicans of Georgetown on my retirement from public duty, is received with sincere pleasure. In the review of my political life, which they so indulgently take, if it be found that I have done my duty as other faithful citizens have done, it is all the merit I claim. Our lot has been cast on an awful period of human history. The contest which began with us, which ushered in the dawn of our national existence and led us through various and trying scenes, was for everything dear to free-born man. The principles on which we engaged, of which the charter of our independence is the record, were sanctioned by the laws of our being, and we but obeyed them in pursuing undeviatingly the course they called for. It issued finally in that inestimable state of freedom which alone can ensure to man the enjoyment of his equal rights. From the moment which scaled our peace and independence, our nation has wisely pursued the paths of peace and justice. During the period in which I have been charged with its concerns, no effort has been spared to exempt us from the wrongs and the rapacity of foreign nations, and with you I feel assured that no American will hesitate to rally round the standard of his insulted country, in defence of that freedom and independence achieved by the wisdom of sages, and consecrated by the blood of heroes.

The favorable testimony of those among whom I have lived, and lived happily as a fellow citizen, as a neighbor, and in the various relations of social life, will enliven the days of my retirement, and be felt and cherished with affection and gratitude.

I thank you, fellow citizens, for your kind prayers for my future happiness. I shall ever retain a lively sense of your friendly attentions, and continue to pray for your prosperity and well being.

TO STEPHEN CROSS, ESQ., TOPSHAM.

MONTICELLO, March 28, 1809.

To the delegates from the various towns in the county of Essex and commonwealth of Massachusetts, assembled on the 20th of February, at Topsham.

The receipt of your kind address in the last moments of the session of Congress, will, I trust, offer a just apology for this late acknowledgment of it. I am very sensible of the indulgence with which you are so good as to review the measures of my late administration, and I feel for that indulgence the sentiments of gratitude it so justly calls for. The stand which has been made on behalf of our seamen enslaved and incarcerated in foreign ships, and against the prostration of our rights on the ocean under laws of nature acknowledged by all civilized nations, was an effort due to the protection of our commerce, and to that portion of our fellow citizens engaged in the pursuits of navigation. The opposition of the same portion to the vindication of their peculiar rights, has been as wonderful as the loyalty of their agricultural brethren in the assertion of them has been disinterested and meritorious. If the honor of the nation can be forgotten, whether the abandonment of the right of navigating the ocean may not be compensated by exemption from the wars it would produce, may be a question for our future councils, which the disclaimer of our navigating citizens may, if continued, relieve from the embarrassment of their rights.

Sincerely and affectionately attached to our national constitution, as the ark of our safety, and grand palladium of our peace and happiness, I learn with pleasure that the number of those in the county of Essex, who read and think for themselves, is great, and constituted of men who will never surrender but with their lives, the invaluable liberties achieved by their fathers. Their elevated minds put all to the hazard for a three penny duty on tea, by the same nation which now exacts a tribute equal to the value of half our exported produce.

I thank you, fellow citizens, for the kind interest you take in my future happiness, and I sincerely supplicate that overruling providence which governs the destinies of men and nations, to dispense his choicest blessings on yourselves and our beloved country.

TO THE REPUBLICAN MECHANICS OF THE TOWN OF LEESBURG AND ITS VICINITY, ASSEMBLED ON THE 27TH OF FEBRUARY LAST.

MONTICELLO, March 29, 1809.

The receipt of your kind address in the last moments of the session of Congress, will, I trust, offer a just apology for its late acknowledgment.

Your friendly salutations on the close of my public life, and approbation of the motives which dictated my retirement, are received with great satisfaction.

That there should be a contrariety of opinions respecting the public agents and their measures, and more especially respecting that which recently suspended our commerce and produced temporary privations, is ever to be expected among free men; and I am happy to find you are in the number of those who are satisfied that the course pursued was marked out by our country's interest, and called for by her dearest rights. While the principles of our constitution give just latitude to inquiry, every citizen faithful to it will, with you, deem embodied expressions of discontent, and open outrages of law and patriotism, as dishonorable as they are injurious; and there is reason to believe that had the efforts of the government against the innovations and tyranny of the belligerent powers been unopposed among ourselves, they would have been more effectual towards the establishment of our rights.

Unconscious of partiality between the different callings of my fellow citizens, I trust that a fair review of my attention to the interests of commerce in particular, in every station of my political life, will afford sufficient proofs of my just estimation of its importance in the social system. What has produced our present difficulties, and what will have produced the impending war, if that is to be our lot? Our efforts to save the rights of commerce and navigation. From these, solely and exclusively, the whole of our present dangers flow.

With just reprobations of the resistance made or menaced against the laws of our country, I applaud your patriotic resolution to meet hostility to them with the energy and dignity of freemen; and thankful for your solicitude for my health and happiness, I salute you with affectionate sentiments of respect.

TO THE FRIENDS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE UNITED STATES IN BRISTOL COUNTY, RHODE ISLAND.

MONTICELLO, March 20, 1809.

The receipt of your friendly address in the last moments of the session of Congress, will, I trust, offer a just apology for its late acknowledgment.

We have certainly cause to rejoice that since the waves of affliction and peril, raised from the storm of war by the rival belligerents of Europe, have undulated on our shores, the councils of the nation have been able to preserve it from the numerous evils which have awfully menaced, and otherwise might have fallen upon us. How long we may yet retain this desirable position is difficult to be foreseen. But confident I am that as long as it can be done consistently with the honor and interest of our country, it will be maintained by those to whom you have confided the helm of government. A surer pledge for this cannot be found than in the public and private virtues of the successor to the chair of government, which you so justly recognize. Your reflections are certainly correct on the importance of a good administration in a republican government, towards securing to us our dearest rights, and the practical enjoinment of all our liberties; and such an one can never fail to give consolation to the friends of free government, and mortification to its enemies. In retiring from the duties of my late station, I have the consolation of knowing that such is the character of those into whose hands they are transferred, and of a conviction that all will be done for us which wisdom and virtue can do.

I thank you, fellow citizens, for the kind sentiments of your address, and am particularly gratified by your approbation of the course I have pursued; and I pray heaven to keep you under its holy favor.

TO THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN DELEGATES FROM THE TOWNSHIPS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, IN PENNSYLVANIA, CONVENED ON THE 21ST OF FEBRUARY, 1809.

MONTICELLO, March 31, 1809.

The satisfaction you express, fellow citizens, that my endeavors have been unremitting to preserve the peace and independence of our country, and that a faithful neutrality has been observed towards all the contending powers, is highly grateful to me; and there can be no doubt that in any common times they would have saved us from the present embarrassments, thrown in the way of our national prosperity by the rival powers.

It is true that the embargo laws have not had all the effect in bringing the powers of Europe to a sense of justice, which a more faithful observance of them might have produced. Yet they have had the important effects of saving our seamen and property, of giving time to prepare for defence; and they will produce the further inestimable advantage of turning the attention and enterprise of our fellow citizens, and the patronage of our State legislatures, to the establishment of useful manufactures in our country. They will have hastened the day when an equilibrium between the occupations of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, shall simplify our foreign concerns to the exchange only of that surplus which we cannot consume for those articles of reasonable comfort or convenience which we cannot produce.

Our lot has been cast, by the favor of heaven, in a country and under circumstances, highly auspicious to our peace and prosperity, and where no pretence can arise for the degrading and oppressive establishments of Europe. It is our happiness that honorable distinctions flow only from public approbation; and that finds no object in titled dignitaries and pageants. Let us then, fellow citizens, endeavor carefully to guard this happy state of things, by keeping a watchful eye over the disaffection of wealth and ambition to the republican principles of our constitution, and by sacrificing all our local and personal interests to the cultivation of the Union, and maintenance of the authority of the laws.

My warmest thanks are due to you, fellow citizens, for the affectionate sentiments expressed in your address, and my prayers will ever be offered for your welfare and happiness.

TO THE CITIZENS OF ALLEGHANY COUNTY, IN MARYLAND.

MONTICELLO, March 31, 1809.

The sentiments of attachment, respect, and esteem, expressed in your address of the 20th ult., have been read with pleasure, and would sooner have received my thanks, but for the mass of business engrossing the last moments of a session of Congress. I am gratified by your approbation of our efforts for the general good, and our endeavors to promote the best interests of our country, and to place them on a basis firm and lasting. The measures respecting our intercourse with foreign nations were the result, as you suppose, of a choice between two evils, either to call and keep at home our seamen and property, or suffer them to be taken under the edicts of the belligerent powers. How a difference of opinion could arise between these alternatives is still difficult to explain on any acknowledged ground; and I am persuaded, with you, that when the storm and agitation characterizing the present moment shall have subsided, when passion and prejudice shall have yielded to reason its usurped place, and especially when posterity shall pass its sentence on the present times, justice will be rendered to the course which has been pursued. To the advantages derived from the choice which was made will be added the improvements and discoveries made and making in the arts, and the establishments in domestic manufacture, the effects whereof will be permanent and diffused through our wide-extended continent. That we may live to behold the storm which seems to threaten us, pass like a summer's cloud away, and that yourselves may continue to enjoy all the blessings of peace and prosperity, is my fervent prayer.

TO THE REPUBLICAN CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND, ASSEMBLED AT HAGERSTOWN ON THE 6TH INSTANT.

MONTICELLO, March 31, 1809.

The affectionate sentiments you express on my retirement from the high office conferred upon me by my country, are gratefully received and acknowledged with thankfulness. Your approbation of the various measures which have been pursued, cannot but be highly consolatory to myself, and encouraging to future functionaries, who will see that their honest endeavors for the public good will receive due credit with their constituents. That the great and leading measure respecting our foreign intercourse was the most salutary alternative, and preferable to the submission of our rights as a free and independent republic, or to a war at that period, cannot be doubted by candid minds. Great and good effects have certainly flowed from it, and greater would have been produced, had they not been, in some degree, frustrated by unfaithful citizens.

If, in my retirement to the humble station of a private citizen, I am accompanied with the esteem and approbation of my fellow citizens, trophies obtained by the blood-stained steel, or the tattered flags of the tented field, will never be envied. The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.

I salute you, fellow citizens, with every wish for your welfare, and the perpetual duration of our government, in all the purity of its republican principles.

TO JAMES HOCHIE, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE ANCIENT PLYMOUTH SOCIETY OF NEW LONDON.

MONTICELLO, April 2, 1809.

SIR,--I have duly received your favor of March 17th, covering resolutions of the Ancient Plymouth Society of New London, approving my conduct, as well during the period of my late administration, as the preceding portion of my public services.

Our lot has been cast in times which called for the best exertions of all our citizens to recover and preserve the rights which nature had given them; and we may say with truth, that the mass of our fellow citizens have performed with zeal and effect the duties called for. If I have been fortunate enough to give satisfaction in the performance of those allotted to me by our country, I find an ample reward in the assurances of that satisfaction. Possessed of the blessing of self-government, and of such a portion of civil liberty as no other civilized nation enjoys, it now behooves us to guard and preserve them by a continuance of the sacrifices and exertions by which they were acquired, and especially to nourish that union which is their sole guarantee. I pray you to accept for yourself and your associates the assurances of my high consideration and respect.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR WRIGHT.

MONTICELLO, April 3, 1809.

DEAR SIR,--Your friendly note of March 3d, was delivered to me on that day. You know the pressure of the last moments of a session of Congress, and can judge of that of my own departure from Washington, and of my first attentions here. This must excuse my late acknowledgment of your note. The assurances of your approbation of the course I have observed are highly flattering, and the more so, as you have been sometimes an eye-witness and long of the vicinage of the public councils. The testimony of my fellow citizens, and especially of one who, having been himself in the high departments, to the means of information united the qualifications to judge, is a consolation which will sweeten the residue of my life. The fog which arose in the east in the last moments of my service, will doubtless clear away and expose under a stronger light the rocks and shoals which have threatened us with danger. It is impossible the good citizens of the east should not see the agency of England, the tools she employs among them, and the criminal arts and falsehoods of which they have been the dupes. I still trust and pray that our union may be perpetual, and I beg you to accept the assurances of my high esteem and respect.

TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

MONTICELLO, April 12, 1809.

I receive with respect and gratitude, from the Legislature of New York, on my retirement from the office of chief magistrate of the United States, the assurances of their esteem, and of their satisfaction with the services I have endeavored to render. The welfare of my fellow citizens, and the perpetuation of our republican institutions, having been the governing principles of my public life, the favorable testimony borne by the Legislature of a State so respectable as that of New York, gives me the highest consolation. And this is much strengthened by an intimate conviction that the same principles will govern the conduct of my successor, whose talents, and eminent services, are a certain pledge that the confidence in him expressed by the Legislature of New York, will never be disappointed.

Sole depositories of the remains of human liberty, our duty to ourselves, to posterity, and to mankind, call on us by every motive which is sacred or honorable, to watch over the safety of our beloved country during the troubles which agitate and convulse the residue of the world, and to sacrifice to that all personal and local considerations. While the boasted energies of monarchy have yielded to easy conquest the people they were to protect, should our fabric of freedom suffer no more than the slight agitations we have experienced, it will be an useful lesson to the friends as well as the enemies of self-government. That it may stand the shocks of time and accident, and that your own may make a distinguished part of the mass of prosperity it may dispense, will be my latest prayer.

TO THE REPUBLICANS OF QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY.

MONTICELLO, April 13, 1809.

I have received, fellow citizens, your farewell address, with those sentiments of respect and satisfaction which its very friendly terms are calculated to inspire. With the consciousness of having endeavored to serve my fellow citizens according to their best interests, these testimonies of their good will are the sole and highest remuneration my heart has ever desired.

I am sensible of the indulgence with which you review the measures which have been pursued; and approving our sincere endeavors to observe a strict neutrality with respect to foreign powers. It is with reason you observe that, if hostilities must succeed, we shall have the consolation that justice will be on our side. War has been avoided from a due sense of the miseries, and the demoralization it produces, and of the superior blessings of a state of peace and friendship with all mankind. But peace on our part, and war from others, would neither be for our happiness or honor; and should the lawless violences of the belligerent powers render it necessary to return their hostilities, no nation has less to fear from a foreign enemy.

I thank you, fellow citizens, for your very kind wishes for my happiness, and pray you to accept the assurances of my cordial esteem, and grateful sense of your favor.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH OF BUCK MOUNTAIN IN ALBEMARLE.

MONTICELLO, April 13, 1809.

I thank you, my friends and neighbors, for your kind congratulations on my return to my native home, and on the opportunities it will give me of enjoying, amidst your affections, the comforts of retirement and rest. Your approbation of my conduct is the more valued as you have best known me, and is an ample reward for any services I may have rendered. We have acted together from the origin to the end of a memorable revolution, and we have contributed, each in the line allotted us, our endeavors to render its issue a permanent blessing to our country. That our social intercourse may, to the evening of our days, be cheered and cemented by witnessing the freedom and happiness for which we have labored, will be my constant prayer. Accept the offering of my affectionate esteem and respect.

TO JONATHAN LOW, ESQ., HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

MONTICELLO, April 13, 1809.

SIR,--I received on the 6th instant your favor covering the resolutions of the general meeting of the republicans of the State of Connecticut who had been convened at Hartford; and I see with pleasure the spirit they breathe. They express with truth the wrongs we have sustained, the forbearance we have exercised, and the duty of rallying round the constituted authorities, for the protection of our Union. Surrounded by such difficulties and dangers, it is really deplorable that any should be found among ourselves vindicating the conduct of the aggressors; co-operating with them in multiplying embarrassments to their own country, and encouraging disobedience to the laws provided for its safety. But a spirit which should go further, and countenance the advocates for a dissolution of the Union, and for setting in hostile array one portion of our citizens against another, would require to be viewed under a more serious aspect. It would prove indeed that it is high time for every friend to his country, in a firm and decided manner, to express his sentiments of the measures which government has adopted to avert the impending evils, unhesitatingly to pledge himself for the support of the laws, liberties and independence of his country; and, with the general meeting of the republicans of Connecticut, to resolve that, for the preservation of the Union, the support and enforcement of the laws, and for the resistance and repulsion of every enemy, they will hold themselves in readiness, and put at stake, if necessary, their lives and fortunes, on the pledge of their sacred honor.

With my thanks for the mark of attention in making this communication, I pray you to accept for yourself and my respectable fellow citizens from whom it proceeds, the assurance of my high consideration, and my prayers for their welfare.

TO THE TAMMANY SOCIETY OF THE CITY OF BALTIMORE.

MONTICELLO, May 25, 1809.

Your free and cordial salutations in my retirement are received, fellow citizens, with great pleasure, and the happiness of that retirement is much heightened by assurances of satisfaction with the course I have pursued in the transaction of the public affairs, and that the confidence my fellow citizens were pleased to repose in me, has not been disappointed.

Great sacrifices of interest have certainly been made by our nation under the difficulties latterly forced upon us by transatlantic powers. But every candid and reflecting mind must agree with you, that while these were temporary and bloodless, they were calculated to avoid permanent subjection to foreign law and tribute, relinquishment of independent rights, and the burthens, the havoc, and desolations of war. That these will be ultimately avoided, we have now some reason to hope; and the successful example of recalling nations to the practice of justice by peaceable appeals to their interests, will doubtless have salutary effects on our future course. As a countervail, too, to our short-lived sacrifices, when these shall no longer be felt, we shall permanently retain the benefit they have prompted, of fabricating for our own use the materials of our own growth, heretofore carried to the work-houses of Europe, to be wrought and returned to us.

The hope you express that my successor will continue in the same system of measures, is guaranteed, as far as future circumstances will permit, by his enlightened and zealous participation in them heretofore, and by the happy pacification he is now effecting for us. Your wishes for my future happiness are very thankfully felt, and returned by the sincerest desires that yourselves may experience the favors of the great dispenser of all good.