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In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts, by their legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judges of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

Federalist.

LETTER XLIII.

Hamilton. - Monroe. - Jay. - Washington's Circular Letter to the Governors of the several States. - Articles of Confederation a loose Wickerwork. - Enviable National and Political Condition of the Citizens of America. Civilization. —A Compact Indissoluble Union, a Sacred Regard to Public Justice, a Proper Peace Establishment, a Good Friendly Mutual Feeling among the People, the Four Essential Things to the WellBeing, Existence, and Independent Power of the United States. ~ Liberty is the Baisis of the Whole. - Crisis, Political and Monetary.

You know from the history of the United States that the first effort to form a government under certain articles of confederation was almost a total failure. To save the country, some distinguished patriots wrote a series of anonymous articles in favor of a better Union, now collected in a book called the Federalist. The authors were Hamilton, Monroe, and Jay. Washington never wrote except in his official duty. But a few productions of his pen may have exercised more sway over the minds of his countrymen than books. They are patterns for official reports, which, in modern times have vastly degenerated. That you may have them at hand I insert here an extract from a circular letter, written by General Washington, as commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States of America, to the governors of the several states, dated, Headquarters, Newburgh, June 18, 1783. In this letter he states, first, that he is preparing to resign and return to that domestic retirement which it is well known he left with the greatest reluctance, and after the great object of his public activity had been accomplished. He further offers, before retiring from public service, his sentiments respecting some important subjects which appeared to him to be intimately connected with the tranquillity of the United States. That he did not give them to the public at large, or to Congress, but laid them before the governors of the young independent states, was a happy hit of that common-sense sagacity of which few men possessed an ampler share than Washington. The people were oppressed by

the burdens of the war; the present Union far from being formed; the articles of confederation a loose wickerwork which could be broken down by the defeat of a single state; the-citizens were in a state of fermentation, harboring expectations difficult or impossible to realize, and even inclined to revolt. (Shay's revolt). How wise was it, then, under these critical circumstances, to make the governors, instead of a book or newspaper, the depositories of his sentiments! Nothing was better calculated to dispose them favorably for their realization as state measures. The principal subject of this address is in his own words, as follows:

"The citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the sole lords and proprietors of a vast tract of continent, comprehending all the various soils and climates of the world and abounding with all the necessaries and conveniences of life, are now, by the late satisfactory pacification, acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom and independency; they are from this period to be considered as the actors on a most conspicuous theatre, which seems to be peculiarly designed by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity. Here they are not only surrounded with everything that can contribute to the completion of private and domestic enjoyment, but Heaven has crowned all its other blessings by giving a surer opportunity for political happiness than any other nation has ever been favored with.

"Nothing can illustrate these observations more forcibly than the recollection of the happy conjuncture of the times and circumstances under which our republic assumed its rank among the nations. The foundation of our empire has not been laid in a gloomy age of ignorance and superstition, but at an epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined than at any former period. Researches of the human mind after social happiness have been carried to a great extent; the treasures of knowledge acquired by the labors of philosophers, sages, and legislators, through a long succession of years, are laid open for use; and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the establishment of our forms of government. The free cultivation of letters, the unbounded extension of commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and, above all, the pure and benign light of revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of society. At this auspicious period the United States came into existence as a nation, and if their citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.

'Such is our situation and such are our prospects. But notwithstanding the cup of blessing is thus reached out to us-notwithstanding happiness is ours if we have the disposition to seize the occasion and make it our own, yet it appears to me there is an option still left to the United States of America whether they will be respectable and prosperous or contemptible and

miserable as a nation. This is the time of their political probation; this is the moment when the eyes of the whole world are upon them; this is the time to establish or ruin their national character for ever; this is the favorable moment to give such a tone to the federal government as will enable it to answer the ends of its institution; or this may be the ill-fated moment for relaxing the powers of the Union, annihilating the cement of the confederation, and exposing us to become the sport of European politics, which may play one state against another, to prevent their growing importance, and to serve their own interested purposes; for, according to the system of policy the states shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall; and by their confirmation or lapse, it is yet to be decided whether the revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse; a blessing or a curse not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved.

"With this conviction of the importance of the present crisis, silence in me would be a crime. I will therefore speak to your excellency the language of freedom and sincerity, without disguise. I am aware, however, those who differ from me in political sentiments may perhaps remark I am stepping out of the proper line of my duty; and they may possibly ascribe to arrogance or ostentation what I know is alone the result of the purest intention; but the rectitude of my own heart, which disdains such unworthy motives the part I have hitherto acted in life, the determination I have formed of not taking any share in public business hereafter, the ardent desire I feel and shall continue to manifest of quietly enjoying in private life, after all the toils of war, the benefits of a wise and liberal government — will, I flatter myself, sooner or later convince my countrymen that I could have no sinister views in delivering with so little reserve the opinions contained in this address.

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“There are four things which I humbly conceive are essential to the wellbeing, I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United States as an independent power :-

'First. An indissoluble union of the states under one head; "Second. A sacred regard to public justice;

"Third. The adoption of a proper peace establishment; and

"Fourth. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the United States which will induce them to forget their local prejudices and politics, to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity, and, in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the community.

"These are the pillars on which the glorious fabric of our independence and national character must be supported. Liberty is the basis, and whoever would dare to sap the foundation or overturn the structure, under whatever specious pretext he may attempt it, will merit the bitterest execration and the severest punishment which can be inflicted by his injured country!"

This will amply compensate you for all ennui which I may have caused you by these letters. You will, from the tenor of this extract, of which I have put some lines in italics, be aware how

clearly the political creation, the present United States of America, was projected or rather cast in the mind of this great master of the political art. This beautiful and dignified address evidently produced the most beneficial effects. The fourth point should be the apostolic rule for all Congress and assemblymen, put into all political platforms, on all party banners, at the head of each issue of a political paper. Dignity, the prominent feature of Washington's character, is the secret of power depending upon public opinion. This secret seems to be lost in Congress and legislatures and our public affairs in general. The political party press has much to answer for it.

When General Washington wrote those lines the nation was in "a portentous crisis," in his own words, owing to the imperfect organization of the national affairs. The different crises the people of the United States have witnessed since, and which have retarded their steady onward progress so much, originated mostly in defective municipal organization and legislation, especially in regard to the monetary affairs. As by the federal constitution all causes for political national crises have been happily removed; it is now with the states to stop their tampering with the currency. which mars the splendid picture drawn by Washington of the future of this nation.

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