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Show 416 INAUGURAL AND FAREWELL ADDRESSES. expr~ss m! approbation of it, on all occasions, in public and lll pnvate. It was not then, nor has been since, an objection to it, in my mind, that the executive anu Senat: were not more permanent. Nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it, but such as the people themselves, in the course of their experience, should sec and feel to be neces ary or expedient, and, by their representatives in Congre s and the State legislatures according to the ConstitnLion iL ·elf, adopt and ordain. ' 1\.eturning to the bosom of my co un try, after a painful separation from it, for ten years, I had the honor to be elected to a station under the new order of thino·s, and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the Constitution. ':rho operation of it has equalled the most sanguiue expectations of its fri ends ; and, from an habitual attention to it, sati, faction in ils administration, and delight in its c1l'ccts upon the peace, ord er, prosperity and happiness of' the nation, I have acqnired au h~uitual attachment to it anJ vcn crution for it. What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love ? There may be little soliuity in an ancient idea, that congregations of men into cities and nations are the most pleasing objects in the sight of supcriot· intel ligences ; but this is very certain, that, to a bcncvoleu t human mind, there can be no spectacle prcsen ted by any nation more pleasing, more noble, mnjcstic, or angnst, than an aFlscmbly like that which bas so often been seen in this and the otlwr chamber of Congre s, of a government in which the executive authority, as well as that of all the branches of the legislature, arc exercised by citizen selected, at ren·ular peri ods, by their neighbors, to make and execute laws for the general good. Can anytlling essential, auylhillg more than mere ornament and decoration, be added to this b.v robes and diamonds? Can nulhorily be more amiable and INAUGUltAL A~D FARF.WELL ADDRRRSF.8 . 417 resp ecta" ble when it descen.d s .f rom nccinen1 R, . or in.~ titntions establiRhed in remote o.ntiqm ty, than w lH'll 1 t ~p n ngs freRh from the hrn.rts and jntlgmcnts of an honrst fliill enlight<'ncd coplc? Por it is the pcopl<' only tl11tt arc reprc.·cntl'd : ~is their power D.ncl maj •sty th~tt is rcfle<.:tcd, nnd only fur their good, in every legitimate govern mrn t, nnd cr wha lever fol'ln it may appca.r. '[1110 existence of' ~ u eh a govcmmcnt as ours, for ~wy length of tim e, is n. full proof of a general dissemination or know lc!lge al\U vi rt I IC j h roughon L the whole l.>otly of the people. And whaL object or co n ~i!lcration more pleasing than this can be preRented to 1 he human mind? If national pride is eYet· justi fi able, or cxcnsn.ble, it is when it sp ring. , 110t from power or riehe:-;, grandeur or g·lory, bnt f'1·om convi ction of uational inuoccn<.:e, information, ::tiHl benevolence. In the mitlst of the. e plea. i ng idea , we slt onl (l be unfaithful to ourselves if we shouhl ever lose sight of the da1wer to our liberties-if any thing partial or extraneous b should infect the purity of our free, fair, vir tuous, anJ inde-pendent elections. If an clcet.i on is to be dct crm i ned by a majo rity of a sinrrlc vole, and that cau be . C<'ured hy a party, tllrough ar ti fice or corruptio n, the gov .mmcn t may be the choice of a pn.rty, for its own ends-not of the nation, for the 11ational good. If that solitary sutrruge can be obtained by foreign nn.tio11s by ilallcry or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or vcuality, the govemmcn t p1ay not be the choice of the American people, but of foreign nations. It may be foreign nations who govern u., and not we the people who govern our ehcs. And candid men will acknow] <lge, tha.t, in such ca:es, choke would have li ttle advantage t.o boast of, over loL or ch::wcc. uch i the amiable and in tcrc:ti ng system of government (and such arc some of the al.n1ses to which it may be expos.ed) which the people of America have cxhibitcJ to the admirution and anxiety of t.he wise and virtuous of all nations, for 27 |