It is a spirit contracted in
its views, selfish in its objects. It looks to the aggrandizement
of a few even to the destruction of the interests of the whole.
The entire remedy is with the people. Something, however, may be
effected by the means which they have placed in my hands. It is
union that we want, not of a party for the sake of that party, but
a union of the whole country for the sake of the whole country,
for the defense of its interests and its honor against foreign
aggression, for the defense of those principles for which our
ancestors so gloriously contended As far as it depends upon me it
shall be accomplished. All the influence that I possess shall be
exerted to prevent the formation at least of an Executive party in
the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the support of no
member of that body to any measure of mine that does not satisfy
his judgment and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds his
appointment, nor any confidence in advance from the people but
that asked for by Mr. Jefferson, "to give firmness and effect to
the legal administration of their affairs."
I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to
justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound
reverence for the Christian religion and a thorough conviction
that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of
religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true
and lasting happiness; and to that good Being who has blessed us
by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and
prospered the labors of our fathers and has hitherto preserved to
us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other
people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our
beloved country in all future time.
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