Late News from America. (February 1, 1862)

Source: The Friend. Honolulu: February 1, 1862. 

A few months ago, the true American, abroad in a foreign land, felt no pleasure in hearing from home. The citadel of Liberty had been attacked. Traitors were among the officers of the President's Cabinet. Spies gloried in their infamous trade. The Army, small and scattered, was demoralized. The Navy could not be trusted. It really seemed as if I-cha-bod —the glory is departed—was to be written beneath every inscription to which " U.S." was attached. Then came the astounding news of the defeat at Bull's Run, where, it appears, both Secesh and Yankee ran, but the Yankee outran his southern opponent, and carried off the palm of a defeat. The tables have turned. 

The American abroad now holds up his head. He has a country. He is not ashamed to acknowledge himself American. The late mails brought intelligence that cheers and animates the patriot's heart. The President's message is hopeful and sound. The Cabinet is united. Congress is alive. Senators and Representatives speak like men who had a work to do, and would do it. The Army and Navy are strong, and growing stronger. The Hatteras affair is eclipsed by the Beaufort victory, still more brilliant and glorious. The capture of Mason and Slidell capped the climax, and makes a good theme for newspaper talk. 

It was to be expected that the government and people of England would remonstrate loudly, if they did nothing more ; but, after all, there is net an Englishman, at home or abroad, who will not say that Wilkes did a brave deed, and showed what they call " pluck." No impartial person will or can say that he intended any insult to the English Flag, but he saw the game, and, as the sportsman says, " bagg'd it." 

Two more mischief-making rebels could not have been seized in all secessiondom. They were dyed in the wool. Neither Jeff. Davis or any other rebel is their superior. We may hereafter hear of the Northern forces meeting with an occasional repulse, but the backbone of the rebellion is cracked, if not broken! When this rebellion is once put down, another like it will never occur.

'War Inevitable' (1861)

Source: The Polynesian. Honolulu: Thursday, June 6, 1861

All eyes still turn with increasing anxiety towards America, and each arrival, pointing as it does to a portentous future, betokening a bloody and terrible struggle of some kind, only whets the appetite for further news from the scene of approaching conflict. The advices brought by the Asterion on the 2d instant, published on our next page, are only three days later, and consequently throw but little additional information on the state of affairs at the South. One thing only seem certain -war is inevitable. The telegraphs South of Washington are all cutoff, so that very little authentic news is being published from thence, except such as is brought by circuitous conveyances. The policy of the Southern Government is inevitably to keep its military plans as concealed as possible from the federal government, hoping thereby to gain some advantages in any movements which it may make.

There can be no doubt that before the 1st July there will be at least 250,000 soldiers under arms in the service of the General Government, or subject to its call at a moment’s notice. This large force, or so much of it as may be required, will be employed in various parts of the border, mainly to act as a guard for defense, in case of attack from any quarter. The New York Herald gives the following programme of what the government will do which appears very plausible, though the number required to effectively blockade all the Southern ports will be much larger than that designated:

First-A corps d’armie of 35,000 men will be collected in and about Washington for the purpose of defending the seat of Government, protecting the military posts, controlling the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay, and keeping open the communication between the North and the Capital. Washington will serve for its point d’ appui, while its line of operation will extend along the left bank of the right shore of the bay. 

Second-A second corps, 25,000 strong, will be formed in and around St. Louis. A portion of it will be employed in protecting the Union men and Federal property in that state from the violence of secession sympathizers, and the rest in holding Cairo, and the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, the most important strategical point in the West.

Third-Of the remaining 40,000-5000 are expected to be thrown into Western Texas, to form a nucleus around which the Unionists of that State will gather.

Fourth-25,000 will be employed in a demonstration for the relief of Fort Pickens and the recapture of the other fortifications around Pensacola bay.

Fifth-10,000 men will be kept hovering in steam transports between Charleston and Savannah, to worry the rebels by necessitating the presence of a large defensive force in both places, and effect a landing wherever opportunity shall offer.

The army operations will be seconded by a strict blockade of the mouths of the Mississippi and all the Southern Ports. Orders for a general blockade have not as reported already, been issued but will doubtlessly be given as soon as the steam-frigates now fitting out will be ready for sea. 

This programme reflects exactly what the Government has decided to do, but will of course be materially changed in case Virginia and the other Border Slave States should secede. Washington, however, will be defended, and Fort Pickens relieved at any cost of blood and treasure.

We cannot better fill our columns to-day than by inserting another of the admirable letters of Mr. J.W. Simonson to the Bulletin, written from Washington, which gives probably a better insight into the relative position of the two sections of the country, which are soon to be engaged in war. The writers sympathies are, of course, altogether with the North and do allowance should be made for that circumstance; but many facts are given which will be read with interest, and which are necessary to a correct understanding of the claims and position of the North and South: 

THE CIVIL WAR-NORTH AND SOUTH CONTRASTED.
-I shall be expected to say something in respect to the probable issue of the Civil War if it must come let me say at the beginning that it cannot and will not be a war for “the subjugation of the South,” but in defense of the government and to prevent it subjugation by the South. It is the seceding States who rebel and who seek to overturn. The Government, which consequently must always have the advantage that belongs to him who stands on the defense only. Government does not propose “invasion of the South,” only to retake its own property where ever it can, and to execute such of the laws of United States now as will make it a necessity of existence that the remainder shall be voluntarily obeyed by the rebels by and by. Thus, for instance, they will blockade ports of the Seceding States in order to prevent smuggling and execute the revenue laws. Similar guards against smuggling will be instituted  on the inland border in the waters traversing the loyal and disloyal states. These things done and supplies caught off from the Seceding States, the latter must either return their allegiance, retire from their assault upon their assault upon the Constitution, or make offensive, and invasive war against the Government. To do this, they will need twice the force which the Government will need for successful defense. The call of the Government for 75,000 men, has already brought forth proffers of at least 300,000 and if they are needed, the state of the North alone can furnish and keep in the field half 1 million of men. Jefferson, after four months of recruiting, has an army of 25,000 men. True, the telegraph tells us that he will call for 150,000 more. This is simply a desperate brag and it betrays only is insanity or insincerity. Nothing can be better settled than that the Confederate States are wholly unable to raise any such force as thus proposed. Their utmost possible force of citizens able to bear arms, even for defense at home ,is 300,000 -or one-eighth their entire white population -and more than half of these must be kept at other pursuits of life, to say nothing of the force necessary to keep the slave population in subjection. As to arming, clothing, and feeding any such force as 175,000 men the proposition is simply absurd. Each soldier and campaign costs not less than $600 per annum to the government employing him, which, multiplied by 175,000 gives an aggregate costs of $105 million annually for this simple item! The Confederate States have not been able to raise $15,000,000, even on forced loans, and moneyed men will not and cannot, be expected willingly to contribute their funds to the creation of the state of anarchy which destroys all property values and makes the rich man poorer than the poor. 

On the other hand let me quote the late secession organ, the N.Y. Herald, upon the strength of the North, as that authority, speaking against its own inclinations must be admitted to tell no more than the truth. It says:

The Northern and Western States have an enrolled militia of nearly two and a half millions of men, most of whom are trained to the use of firearms ,and can make a pretty good shot, and many of them are regularly drilled and disciplined in organized companies. These States have also abundance of munitions of war and money enough at command to sustain a large force in the field. There exists, moreover, a perfect unanimity of feeling to make all these resources available to the surface of the Government. It is true that half the men who are now hurrying on to Washington do not care who is President; many of them may be opposed to Mr. Lincoln and his party; but they do care for the integrity of life the permanency of the republic and in the sentimental all party predilections prejudices are now submerged. 

The North and the South are equal in courage. If either has superior endurance and coolness it is the North who is climate makes the blood runs slower, but the pulses in whose patriotic bosoms we all the more fiercely and persistently when once aroused. The lion which will longest bear shaking by the mane is most terrible when at last excited beyond endurance -and so it will be, as someone has expressed it, when the people of the East go in to battle “singing psalms” while dealing death. These are no words of menace. God save me in this unhappy hour of our country, from any any disposition to do injustice, or to offer taunt to the people of any section. The issues of war now-a-days are accurately measured by the amount of money which belligerents can respectively command. Cash is equivalent to miracle numerical superiority in men and all else that makes an army terrible and invincible, for it supplies subsistence, munitions, perfection of engines of human destruction, and means of rapid transportation. The combatant who excels in the means of war and has equal skill and wielding them must win in the end. This premise is universally admitted, and it relieves us at once of all doubt as to the issue of the impending contest. Concede, as we do, in the Seceding States, personal courage to the equal to that of the loyal States, and the former are still left in a hopeless inferiority and all other respects. The Confederate States contain a white population of 2,500,000 or about one-eighth the population of the Northern States. The latter can, if necessary, bring a force eight times greater into the field. All the Slave States together have a white population of only 8,000,000 against 19,000,000 in the North. Measured by numbers, the North's twice and a half as powerful, assuming all the Southern States to be a unit in sentiment and purpose. But this is impossible. Missouri in no contingency will join the Gulf Confederacy, neither will Delaware or Maryland or Western Virginia or Eastern Kentucky, nor Tennessee. In case of hostilities the proper surveillance over the negro would compel at least one half of the white males to remain at home as a local police, increasing the disparity to such a degree is to render it the height of foolhardiness for the South to venture upon the contest. They cannot be expected to overcome impossibilities, and they have no grievance calling for exhibitions of the stoicism which leads men sometimes to seek death rather than yield to the force of surrounding circumstances. 

They have no munitions of war except their small arms and a few cannon; nor have they a single manufactory of arms or a powder mill in all the Seceded States. They cannot arm themselves efficiently, therefore, however brave, especially when the Federal Government commands the sea and blockades all their ports. Neither do they manufacture a yard of cloth suitable for soldiers clothing, or raise a pound of food for their rations. They must be supplied with these from the North, if at all; and the granaries of the Northwest, which are ready to pour forth their treasures like water to feed our Southern brethren, free of cost if they need it, are our friends, will be sealed to them by war as closely as a vice. Even for its own safety from starvation, the Cotton States must this year devote all their slave labor to the raising of food, while the North has stores enough on hand to keep the wolf from the door, though no crop is raised during the summer campaign.

But it is in money that the disloyal States are weakest. They spend the price of the cotton crop always before it is raised, and have no funds of any consequence to fall back upon.  Every bank in South Carolina is broken, and the first bugle-note of war broke down Southern State stocks and bank stocks so terribly that they are a drug at any price. While over $100,000,000 is been freely tendered to the United States Government within the last week, the $15,000,000 loan of the Confederate States cannot be got rid of two voluntary purchasers. The moment a State secedes, her credit is ruined -for secession becomes repudiation by ultimately rendering her unable to pay her debts. A people who trample on the Constitution they have sworn support will not hesitate and throwing off a debt whenever it is found a burden. Mississippi and Florida, even for slighter temptation, blasted their financial reputations long years ago, and the stain is so deep and damning as to cast a shadow over its associates. It is a warning. Neither the Confederate States nor its individual members can have any credit abroad, and every dollar of available means in the hands of its people at home must be exhausted in a very brief time. It is a terrible reflection in times like these that the wealth of the seceding States consist chiefly of lands and negroes, and war renders both the species of property almost valueless, while they are entirely so for work purposes. The disloyal States can get no money except by spoilation, which will soon exhaust itself. 

Again the loyal States have an immense advantage in the fact that they hold the commerce and command the sea, so that the Confederate States are quite at their mercy in their numerous vulnerable points of attack upon the coast. They need 2000,000 men as defense against 10,000 on board a well-appointed fleet. One day this force could threaten Norfolk, the next Wilmington, the next Charleston, the next Savannah; than Florida, Mobile, New Orleans and Galveston. No one could tell where the blow was to be struck, and consequently every menaced point would have to be well guarded. Such a fleet and force could in six months put the whole South in a perfect frenzy, by constantly hovering upon their coast with hostile demonstrations. And yet with the mercantile marine of New York in Boston at their disposal Government could precipitate 100,000 men upon any required point. A dozen points could be threatened at the same moment, and having thus the command of the sea in the hands of the North, the South, having no navy, nor ships, nor sailors, could not defend themselves with even ten times their presents number. They have more than 5,000 miles of frontier line to protect; what folly then to talk of invading the North. Would to Heaven that wise councils might stay the mad passions of the rebel conspirators, and avert them from the destruction towards whose brink they rush. There is one door of escape left open for them- the Congress to meet in July. The Herald (I quote it because its view will not be supposed to be those of a partisan Republican,) speaking of the President, says:

But he has chosen to cut the Gordian knot the north response was startling unanimity and we must deal with the solemn facts of war which are before us. We presume that Virginia and the other Border Slave States will come up with the representatives of the North to Congress in July and that their object in coming will be a treaty of peace. In this connection the resolute policy of Mr. Lincoln and General Scott, and the significant co-operation and enthusiasm of the North may operate powerfully in behalf of peace with the beleaguered Southern Confederacy. 

If the Border Slave States cannot a present act with the Northern States in this great crisis, neutrality is their best policy; and we think they will adopt it to escape the destructive visitations of this Civil War upon themselves; in the field of warlike operations being thus confined to the Seceding States, their reduction or destruction appears almost inevitable. Beyond a year or two of exhausting civil war, they cannot hold out without losing the monopoly of the cotton culture; for if our Southern supplies of cotton fail beyond a year or two, they may be raised in other parts of the world to supply the world’s necessities. 

The same journal, arguing that the Border Slave States will not rush into the whirlpool of civil war, but will arrange for a position of armed neutrality, has the following:

We are inclined to this opinion from the fact that secession and full cooperation with the Montgomery government would only throw the brunt of the war upon Virginia and the Border Slave States in making, them the field of battle, but in bringing down the Canadian fugitive slave line to the borders of Virginia, she would risk a grand stampede and demoralization of her slaves, which might only end with the destruction of her to hundred millions of cash involved in her slave property. And so with Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. The Union is indispensable to the safety of their slave property in this crisis of Civil War. Let Virginia secede and let General Jeff Davis establishes military headquarters at Richmond as it is said he expects to do and amidst the confusion of contending armies Within their borders Virginia will hazard the additional calamities of a ruinous demoralization of her Negros.

If the Border States haply take this position the war at worst will be a short one; if they, on the other hand united with the Confederate States, or allow the Southern force to cross their soil to invade the capital, Virginia will become the battle ground, and will necessarily be devastated by fire and sword, while her slave population will in 80 days be entirely beyond its borders either South or North. Virginia neutral in the war becomes little more than a blockade of the Southern ports; Virginia active in hostility, and no man can estimate the baptism of horrors through which our country must pass. The bonds of the Northern States today or almost as good as before the war panic broke out, and many of them are at a high premium. The stocks of Virginia have going to 50 per cent, already, and holders have not the least idea what they are worth a cent except the State keeps out of fratricidal war. It is Jeff Davis's purpose to have the war on her soil, if he is to have it all, for his own dominions are barren of food. He must move his army to a theater where food can be seized or he must disband. So, too, if he can transfer the war two Virginia, Davis probably thinks there will be peace at home and that cotton can by cultivated their next summer. In that he is greatly mistaken; for if he attempts invasion, he will be repelled by invasion. If he comes towards this capital he will be attacked in the in the rear, while chivalrous Virginia for the sack of her cities the desolation of her fields, the liberation of her Negroes, and see all her interests completely blasted by the military despot. Of all the States that have seceded, or threatened to secede, Virginia is the most vulnerable and exposed. The United States holding Fort Monroe completely cuts off her communication with the sea. From this port expeditions may penetrate by water far into the interior. On the North, Washington will be a fortified camp of 25,000 men. On the west, she will be threatened by her own free territory, and by Ohio and Pennsylvania. Between all these forces she will be grounded to powder-eaten up by those who profess to come to her aid and commanded at every turn to buy the overwhelming forces of the United States. 

But Jeff Davis threatens our commerce with privateers. The threat is perfectly idle. His letter of marque will be laughed to scorn, and every man who accepts one will be treated as a pirate wherever found. The Southern ports will all be blockaded by the United States, and there will be no port in the world to which they can carry a prize for god condemnation every naval power of the world who will be compelled to aid us and sweeping these piratical craft from the seas. The only danger of this piratical proclamation of Davis is that it may provoke the in roads of scores of John Brown Crusaders into the Southern States, for the express purpose of setting free of the Southern slaves, and arming them against the Southern rebels. The “property” of the South is much more open to assault and even the commerce of the Northern States. No letters of marque and reprisal will be needed to make the wort effective heaven save the land from so fearful and demonic a retaliation but it forced to the death struggle men will strike at that point there assailants person which is most exposed. 

Even the dastardly New York Express which has been the least manly of all the opponents of the administration has wheeled intuit support. As another evidence of the overwhelming unanimity of sentiment of the North I take from the journal in question the following: 

Not another gun cannon revolver or pound of powder should be permitted to go to the Seceding States. The President of United States, through his revenue officers, should instantly stop their exportations and states should stop their intern transit trade. The port of Charleston ought to be instantly blockaded there may be no wall for it but South Carolina has put herself out of the protection of any loss of hours she does not respect us and we cannot be expected to respect her. 

Cotton-Cotton Seed-Cotton Gin-and Cotton King (March, 1862)

Source: The Friend, Honolulu, March, 1862, page 24. 

[Correspondence of the Friend]

Boston, 4th December, 1861. 

Mr. Editor: 

Dear Sir—l am very glad to hear from the Islands that an effort Is being made to encourage the cultivation of cotton as an article of export, and I have no doubt but that the effort will be successful if persevered in. I have been amused at the remarks of some of the verdant writers who speaker the first cotton seed having been carried to the Islands between twenty and thirty years ago. Samples of cotton, of native production, were sent to China by Kamehameha 1st, forty-five years ago, and other samples were sent by Kamehameha 2d, about the year 1828, (38 years ago,) the seed having been extracted by hand. These samples were there pronounced by competent judges, a very excellent article, very fine and of a long staple, and have been compared to the American Sea Island. The old seed may be improved by cultivation, and become as good as ever it was In former days; but to improve the quality, and for the benefit of all interested, Mr. Charles Brewer has now on the way out, in his bark Arctic, a barrel of the best seed that could be procured, and at a great expense. The great facilities for raising cotton on our southern virgin soil, with slave labor, and aided by the cotton gin, our "King Cotton" has had almost a monopoly. He grew rich, foolish, and finally ran mad, and set about his own destruction. The first shot fired against the walls of Fort Sumpter, aroused not only a rival but a nation to arms against King Cotton, and the world as his rivals, and they are cultivating cotton in all parts of the world, and in no part can a better article be produced than at the Hawaiian Islands. Having had a personal knowledge of your soil, and climate, and the goodness of the article raised there, as soon as our troubles here began, I commenced writing about It, and knowing the importance of the Cotton Gin, in clearing it from the seed, I sent out one in the Raduga, which arrived out safe ; but I have not heard one word about the Gin, but by advice I have sent out two more Gins In the bark Arctic. They are such as I thought best adapted to the commencement of the cultivation, and shall be glad to hear that the crops require the greater article to clean it from its seed. I have also sent the printed description of them to Messrs. C. Brewer & Co., and beg leave to send a set of printed circulars and description of the gin to you, which please cause to be placed where they will be useful to the cultivator of cotton. Any persons wanting Gins, If they will send me the funds, I will purchase and send out for them any size, free from charge on my part.

Very Respectfully Yours, 

JAMES HUNNEWELL.

War Tax (Jan. 1862)

Source: The Friend. Honolulu: January, 1862, page 2. 

The people of the United States will no longer be able to boast of their freedom from taxes for the support of the General Government. Hitherto the revenue from the tariff and sale of lands, has paid all the expenses of the Government. Sometimes there has been a surplus in the Treasury. Those days are gone, as many be learned from the following statement: 

THE INCOME TAX.—We subjoin a copy of the income taxes and duties imposed by the last Congress. The act comes into effect on April 1st, 1862. By provisions of the act an annual tax is laid on incomes derived from all sources other than that subject to direct tax, as follows: 

On yearly incomes of residents of over eight hundred dollars...........8 per cent. 

On yearly incomes of non-residents of over eight hundred dollars...6 per cent. 

TAX ON CARRIAGES.—The tax on carriages resting on springs and not used exclusively for the transportation of merchandise, together with harness used therewith, is in proportion with value, as follows :

Not exceeding $50.............................................................$1

If above $50 and not exceeding $100................................$4

       “     $100 and not exceeding $200..............................$8

       “     $200 and not exceeding $400..............................$16

       “     $400 and not exceeding $600..............................$20

       “     $600 and not exceeding $800..............................$30

       “     $800 and not exceeding $1000............................$40

       “     $1000 and not exceeding $1000..........................$50

TAX ON WATCHES.—The tax on every watch kept for use is as follows : 

Gold watches.......................$1 00 

Silver watches........................   50

TAX ON DISTILLED SPIRITS.—A tax is also laid on distilled spirits, to be paid by the manufacturer or distiller thereof: 

        On each gallon first proof, or less, 50 cents. 

        On each gallon of greater strength than first proof, in proportion to the above. 

Tax on Fermented Liquors.—Beer, ale, porter, and other similar fermented liquors, the duty to be paid by the brewer thereof, is taxed as follows :

On each gallon................2 cents. 

On each barrel, containing no more than thirty gallons.....................60 cents.

War in the United States (Jan. 1862)

Source: The Friend. Honolulu: January, 1862, page 5. 

This war is assuming an auspicious shape. It was not to hare been reasonably expected that the people of the loyal States, most of whom were unaccustomed to the use of arms, and who were taken by surprise, could on the instant rise and crush out a rebellion which had long been premeditated and carefully prepared by men who, however criminal, had, it must be confessed, experience and ability. Jeff. Davis and his associates in treason had, through a serious of years, occupied high positions under the Government and held actual control of public affairs. During all that time their power and influence were wielded to prepare the Southern States for the rebellion. The people of the South were encouraged to exercise themselves in military discipline, and arms and munitions of war were furnished them in abundance from the national arsenals. Thus when the time arrived for the hoisting of the standard of revolution, Davis, Beauregard and the other leaders of the revolt found themselves at the head of armies already disciplined and furnished with every necessary of war. We say, the loyal States were taken by surprise; they had so long listened to the gasconade of politicians that they regarded the threats of the Secessionists with incredulous ears; and it was.only when they heard the thunder of the guns from Fort Sumpter they realized the actual situation of the country. The spectacle which followed was grand to an extreme, and every way worthy a great and free people. The merchant left his ledger, the farmer his plough, the mechanic bis tools, the lawyer his briefs, and even the minister his pulpit, to commence an education in a new profession—to learn the art of war. It is no exaggeration to say that five-sixths of the volunteers scarcely knew the difference between a minie rifle and a flint lock musket, so far as such knowledge might be useful on the field. But, brought up in habits of industry, trained to adapt themselves to contingent circumstances, and gifted with quick intellectual powers of discernment which men accustomed to business pursuits only can acquire, the people of the great North, East and West proved themselves equal to the emergency. They were as rapid to learn the duties of a soldier, as they had been slow to believe in the existence of a rebellion. Still, after they acquired the theory, they had still to confront the enemy and acquire the practice of their new profession. It was natural, under the circumstances, that a few blunders should occur, and we had the Bull Run, Springfield, Lexington and other disasters to lament. But again the people of the loyal States triumphed, and there is now at the disposition of the government as vigorously disciplined and well appointed an army as has been assembled any time within the century. Every day its strength and efficiency are being increased. Unworthy and incompetent officers are driven from command and soldiers of experience commissioned in their stood. 

Three months ago, it was the boast of the rebels that their forces had been trained from boyhood up to the use of arms, and that it was folly to suppose that tradesmen and "greasy mechanics" could successfully meet them in hattie ; but we imagine they at length are beginning to discover the great truth that labor elevates and strengthens manhood. 

As we before said, the war is assuming an auspicious shape. The rebels have exhausted their resources; they can bring no more soldiers into the field. On the other hand, the U. S. Government has not developed a tithe of its strength, and yet our armies largely outnumber those of the enemy. And while we hear of dissensions among the leaders at the South, the feeling of cordiality between President Lincoln and our Generals grows stronger every hour. In short, the loyal States have risen superior to all adverse circumstances, and are gaining strength every hour, while the rebel government is in the last extremity for men and means to save it from perdition.  -S.F. Herald. 

Waifs from the Bay State: Westboro, November 30, 1860

Source: Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu: Thursday, February 28, 1861.

[The following letter ought to have been received by the mail before this, but from some cause appears to have been delayed. It will be read with none of the less interest, however.]

MY DEAR COMMERCIAL: -In my last waif, I promised myself the pleasure of another gossip with my old friends, your readers, “after haying”  -and here is Winter, with his white robes knocking, at the door as I sit down to fulfill my promise. The otium cum dignitate which “Friend” Damon pictures me as enjoying, does not afford leisure for letter-writing, and I know of no class to find less of that commodity than the Yankee farmers. At the date of my last letter, the excitement of the presidential election had just commenced. The campaign is now over, and with its torch-light processions, its parade of Rail-splitters, Little Giants and Belligerents, and its fearful long-winded speeches, is a thing of the past. The battle is fought, the decisive victory won, and “Honest old Abe” is our President elect.  But the effervescence in the political cauldron has not subsided as usual, and the side that is nearest the fire is boiling over. The South, or rather the State of South Carolina, is furious at the election of a Republican President, and determined to secede from the Union. The fact of the supremacy of a party adverse to increasing the area of slavery is considered an encroachment upon the rights of the South, and a sufficient justification for her dissolving the Union. And though Lincoln is elected by constitutional means, and will have a majority in both houses opposed to him, so that Southern rights will not be endangered by his administration, yet the political leaders in the slave States are determined, if possible, to precipitate the country into the horrors of a revolution rather than endure defeat. To the misrepresentations and foul mouth calumnies of the rabid politicians of all parties, and the fearful license which party presses take with the truth, is mainly owing the present excited state to feeling which threatens the dismemberment of this glorious Union. The Vice-President elect, Hannibal Hamlin, a senator in Congress, has been represented in the south as a mulatto, and this report, aided by his unfortunate praenomen, which can neither be called Christian or proper, but is decidedly African, is very generally believed. The “Cotton States” are bent upon secession, and are arming for the forcible accomplishment of their purpose, if a peaceable separation cannot be effected -and though it is clearly demonstrated by their own conservative writers, that the evils of which they complain will not be obviated by secession, yet they refuse to listen to reason, and are rushing blindly into the horrors of revolution. A few months will decide the fate of our country. Congress is about to assemble, and a stormy session is anticipated. The “irrepressible conflict” is at hand, and the momentous issue will soon be decided, whether our country shall be preserved by patriots or perish by partisans. God save the Republic!

Our friends in “the tight little isle” across the ocean seem to be very much pleased at the reception given by his Yankee cousins to the Heir Apparent, on his recent visit to his Uncle Sam. It was, indeed a hearty, unstudied, spontaneous burst of enthusiasm which everyone welcomed the son of Queen Victoria, and was according to him as a tribute of respect and esteem universally felt for her by the American people. The Prince is a very unassuming, well behaved youth, and bore being bored with a commendable spirit of resignation. The general opinion among the masses seemed to be that for a youth who had not had “the advantage of an American education,” he appeared uncommonly well. One feature in the progress of the Royal party through the United States was as novel as it was refreshing, i.e., the absence of speechmaking. This peculiarly Yankee institution, which generally forms the staple of our public receptions, was entirely dispensed with, and the omission was attended with the happiest results. It is to be hoped the example will be more generally followed on future occasions. 

The friends of Hawaii have learned with great sorrow of the sudden death of Mr. Armstrong. The nation can ill afford to lose such men from their councils, nor can his place at the head of the educational institutions of the country be easily supplied. The appointment of his successor will be awaited with interest. Mr. Armstrong seemed to be the only connecting link between the government and its early and faithful friends, the American Missionaries, and though the latter may not always have used their influence judiciously, it may well be questioned whether the record of the present dynasty exhibits any higher order of statesmanship on the part of those with taking their place in the confidence of the councils of the Aupuni. It is certain that the Government never has had more devoted, single-hearted, capable supporters, than those who rallied round it in the troublous times of French and English aggressions during the reign of Kamehameha III, and who by their firmness and prudence, saved the ship of state from becoming a mere tender to some European liner. Though the different classes and conflicting interests of the foreign community of Hawaii at the present day, require to be more fully represented than formerly, yet the Puritan element is still needed and should have a prominent place in the national councils, and it will be a sad day for the King and the people when it shall be denied its rightful and well-earned position. 

A few days ago, I strolled into the Fair in Boston for the benefit of the “Sailors Snug Harbor” and my attention was attracted to a display of Polynesian curiosities, conspicuous among which, was one of the elegant feather capes which formerly were much prized insignia of rank among the Hawaiian mobility. These curiosities were presented to the Fair by Capt. John Percival, U.S. Navy, or “mad Jack” as he is familiarly known, whose career at the Islands as commander of the Dolphin is so well remembered by the older residents. There was also one of the fine grass malos from the Fijis, the nature and uses of which I was requested to explain by the Fair attendants. When I informed them that the article in question was a full dress suit of a Fiji Islander, no further questions were asked, though they were evidently of the opinion that a person who could be so easily suited must have a good deal of the old Adam in his composition. 

I congratulate the R.H.A.S. on their successful attempt to import birds into the Islands through the kind offices of the owners of the R. W. Wood. I saw some time since a notice of a subject for discussion before one of our rural agricultural societies, which I commend to their attention. It was, “which is the most conducive to happiness, the cultivation of flowers or the manufacture of butter?” On the latter point I believe each member was expected to speak, in his churn. 

MAIKELA

Washington's Farewell Address (April, 1862)

Washington's Farewell Address (Published in Honolulu 1862)

Source: The Friend, Honolulu. April 1, 1862, Vol. 19, #4.

We have been led to publish, in our columns, this interesting and farewell address by the Father of our country, inconsequence of President Lincoln's recommendation, that this document should be read by ministers of all religious denominations, in their churches on the 22d of February—Washington's Birth Day. From late newspapers, we learn that the President's recommendation was generally complied with on that day. It was also read by Chaplains in the army and navy of the United States. The friends and lovers of their country, do not wish for a reconstruction or remodeling of the great political edifice, but they do desire to maintain the old Union,and for the attainment of this desirable end they are pouring out their treasure and their blood. The question is sometimes asked, for what are the Americans fighting? We answer, for their country, for the union of the States, for constitutional liberty. We hope the warfare will not cease until over that broad land the flag of our country shall again wave in triumph. When that time arrives, it is our honest belief that there will be a strong, prosperous and peaceful nation.

The Farewell Address of George Washington, President,

To the People of the United States, on September 17, 1796.

Friends and Fellow-citizens: 

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the Executive Government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have firmed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution bus not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that, in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence, in my situation, might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that meat from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of oar affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well at internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety I and persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire. 

The impressions with which 1 first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say, that I have with good intentions contributed towards the organization and administration of the Government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience, in my own eyes—perhaps still more in the eyes of others—has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me, more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances hare given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgement of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that, under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead; amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging; in situations in which, not infrequently, want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, —the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans, by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows, that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration, in every department, may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and the adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop; but a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments, which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be afforded

to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel; nor can forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. 

The unity of government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence—the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to forsee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, —it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts. 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels and joint efforts, of common dangers, and successes. 

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest; here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole. 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow, and .its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it look forward to the protection of a maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The East in like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communication, by land and water, will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort; and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must, of necessity, owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its productions, to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connexion with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. 

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find, in the united mass of means and efforts, greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their pence by foreign nations; and what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries, not tied together by the same government; which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues, would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those over-grown military establishments, which under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty; in this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt, whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience resolve it. To listen to mere speculation, in such a case, were criminal. We are authorized to hope, that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to Union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those, who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as a matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations—Northern and Southern—Atlantic and Western whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them, of a policy in the General Government, and in the Atlantic States, unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi: they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties—that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them every thing they could desire in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such they are, who would sever them from their brethren, and connect them with aliens? 

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a Government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict between the parts, can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances, in all time, have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of Government better calculated than your former for an intimate Union, and for the efficacious management of your former common concerns. This Government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The bases of our political systems, is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of Government: but the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power, and the right of the people to establish Government, pre-supposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government. 

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberate on and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive to this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests. 

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and tilings, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men, will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of Government; destroying, afterwards, the very engines which had lifted them to unjust dominion. 

Towards the preservation of your Government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests in a country so extensive as ours, a Government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty, is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a Government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the Government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, top confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. 

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you, in the most solemn manner, against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes, in all Governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed ; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which, in different ages and countries, has perpetrated I the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads, at length, to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and, sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless, ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. 

It serves always to distract the public councils, and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments, occasionally, riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the Government itself, through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. 

There is an opinion that parties, in free countries, are useful checks upon the administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is probably true; and in Governments of a monarchical cast patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in Governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by a force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not be bequenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, in a free country, should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding, in the exercise of the powers of one department, to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of Government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal, against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments, ancient and modern; some of them in our own country, under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be, in any particular, wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, -in one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free Governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance, in permanent evil, any partial or transient benefitt which the use can, at any time, yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice. And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles. 

It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular Government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free Government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? 

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a Government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. 

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger, frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding, likewise, the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to' discharge the debts which unavoidable ware may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which W« ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects, (which it always a choice of difficulties,) ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the Government in malting it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. 

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and ran it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be i worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost I by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that s Providence has not connected the permanent , felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every in sentiment which ennobles human nature. - Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices? 

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent inveterate i antipathies against particular nations, and i passionate attachments for others, should be I excluded ; and that, in place of them, just and amiable feelings towards all should be; cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an I habitual fondness, is, in some degree, a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection; either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another, disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the Government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The Government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts, through passion what reason would reject; at other tunes it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations has been the victim. 

So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation to another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common i interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the i latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation ; making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill will and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld ; and it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray, or sacrifice the interest of their own country, without odium ; sometimes even with popularity ; gilding with the appearance of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments arc particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the art of eduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to b» constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican Government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike for another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil, and even second, the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious , while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests. 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexion as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient Government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected ; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? Why, quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival-ship, interest, humor, or caprice? 

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affaire, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend them. 

Taking cares always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. 

Harmony, and a liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand ; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying, by gentle means, the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing, with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the Government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinions will permit, but temporary, and liable to be, from time to time, abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay, with a portion of its independence, for whatever it may accept under that character; that by such acceptance it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon, real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish ; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations; but if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigues, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism ; this hope will be a full recompense for tho solicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated. 

How far, in the discharge of my official duties, I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records, and other evidences of my conduct, must witness to you and the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them. 

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it. 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, perseverance, and firmness. 

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. 1 will only observe, that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all. 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any thing more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations. 

The inducements of interest, for observing that conduct, will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress, without interruption, to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly sneaking, the command of its own fortunes. 

Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error; lam nevertheless, too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope, that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. 

Relying on its kindness in this, as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate, with pleasing expectation, that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens the benign influence of good laws under a free government—the ever favorite object of my heart — and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 

George Washington. 

United States, 17th September, 1776.