Year: 1874

nkeIv To- produce public good or private honor that
would turn your thoughts to ViedctOry Address from
tSs 70 sawpS been 6onored with the Presdena chair
aud 10 the best OF my abilities contributed to the or
Cauzation aud administration OF the Government; that
having arrived at aperiod of life when the private walks
% VI be- be 'ne %os, s pleasing to %e and as ne p
Gorerment may render rotation in ne ,. e,ses nsonps
aGrsi Of tibertg and saTei that take my leave Of
thcm public man, ana, IN budding the ID aueu " G te
tanning 10 other concern than such will arise from
feryent wishes for the prosperity country take
the liberty at my departure IRON civil iiel as f s
Tess,nxS of Proydenee Noon t and upon all those who
are the supporters OF it, interests ana 'he p'oSo
harmony 0r"ef aug ,wSanss q washington Vol 10, ss2


The letter then proceeds to set forth variety of
counsels TO his countrymen, which the writer de-
sired to have incorporated into the address.
. In will be observed that among the motives as
signed in Washngtons letter for retiring from the
Presidency at the close of his first term and which
he desired to have Incorporated into his address,
was a suitable respect for the spirit of our Govern
nent which renders "a rotation in its elective Of
ces more congenial with the ideas the people have
of liberty and safety"


To this letter Madison sent an elaborate reply and
with it draft address, in which occurs the following
passage:


May be allowed further to add consideration far
more Important, that an early example OF rotation W n
Office of - high and delicate nature may equally
accord with tue republican spirit of our Constit atiSn
ana Tue lucaS OF nOerty ulu safety W
people


Washington was pressed on all sides not to compel
the country at that critical stage of its political eX-
istence 70 make a choice of President from among
the rival statesmen who surrounded him.


Jefferson was as importuDate any. In letter
written to the President the Esd Of the same
month of Nav, he says:


When y,u first mentioned TO your purpose OF re-
firing from tue Government though ielt all the mag
nfude OF the event, was Ia eonsaeraole uestoo ,
silent knew thar, 10 such mind as yours persuasion
was idle and imperineut before forming your de-
els Ou you had weighed all the Tor and against
tbew and tnt there could be little hope OF changing
tbe result Pursuing my reflections, too, ! knew We
should be made while you should be alive and looking
ssoed derive confidence rom tnat r ,ao w
calm ami condeut and therefore in favorable state
for making the experiment. Had change Of crcum-
stances inieTyened should not with any hopes of
have ventured TO propose to you change OF
and serene aud that from causes in which you no
ways personally mixed Though these causes have been
hackneyed the pabc papers IN detail 10 may not be
amiss order to calculate the effect tney are capable
Of producing TO take view OF them In the mass, giving VII
each the form, real or imaginary under whlcn they
have been presented


He concludes:


The confidence OF the whole Union is centered in you
Your beng the helm will be more than answer to
every argument which eau he used TO alarm and lead
the people any quarter into violence and secession
North South will hang together II they have you 10
hang on II the first correction Of numerous repre-
seuatou should fan IN ats effect your presence will
time for tryDC others, not inconsistent with the
union and peace of the States.


your present Office lays mind and of the ardOr with
which you for domestic life But there is some
times an enuence OF character which society have
such peculiar claims as to control the predictions of
the individual for particular walk OF happiness and
him to that arising FROM the present and
future benedictiOns OF mankind This to he your
condition and the law imposed on you by Providence in
forming your character ana fashonng the events on
which 1t was to operate and is to motives like these,
and personal anxetes of mlne others who have
no right call YOU for sacrifices, that appeal and
reyal of it, the ground OF change in the
new and enlarged representation; should those
Quiesce whose principles interest they CONTROL
would be gratied with less
danger, that shall be manifest, without await
nR the completion OF the second period Of four years
not but hope that resolve to add more 10 the
many you have already sacrificed to the good OF
mankind.


Jefferson then proceeds with an elaborate indict-
ment of the financial policy of Government, for
which Hamilton and his friends were responsible,
and which, IN his judgment, rendered Presidential
crisis perlous to our then infant and still widely
mistrusted form of government.


Hamilton naturally took a less gloomy view of the
situation, but was no less urgent that Washington
should serve a second term.


1T is clear says every one with whom have
conversed !" so he wrote in July of the same year,
I792:


That the affairs of the National Goyernm ent not
vet firmly established that its enemies. generally
been sharpened by s success and by all the resent
ments which flow from disappointed predictions and
mortified vanity that general ana strennous enort Is
making every state 10 place the administration OF II
in the hands of its enemies II they were It's safest
sentatves likely TO the crisis OF its permanent
character; that II you continue IN once nothing ma
teriaiIy mschievous be apprehended If you quit,
much is dreaded that the same motives which in
duced TO accept originally ought TO decide you TO
continue till matters assumed more determinate
aspect that indeed, IL would have been better as re.
CARDS your character that You had never consented
10 como forward than now to leave the business un-
finished and in danger OF being undOne; that In the
event OF storms arising there would be an imputaton
either OF of foresight or want or nnness and IN
fine that on public and personal accounts, OH patriotic
and prudential considerations the clear path TO be pur
sued by you will be again TO obey the voice OF your
country which, 1t is doubted, will be as earnest and
unanimous as ever


Randolph, the Attorney General, who affected to
hold sort of balance in the Cabinet between the
two rival Secretaries. though commonly disposed to
side with Jefferson, as Knox, the other Cabinet
counselor. always was w'th Hamilton, concludes a
letter to Washington based upon arguments the
same in principle as those advanced by Jefferson
and with similar appeal Gd hominem.


The Constitution would not have been adopted but
from knowledge that you had once sanctioned il, and
an expectation that you would execute II. II Is In
state OF probation The most nauspleous struggles are
passed; but the public deliberations need stabil
ity should civil arise you cannot stay at hone
and how much will it be TO disperse the factions
which are rushing this catastrophe than 10 subdue
them after they shall appear In armies


Gouverneur Morris, rejecting the sentiments
of very large number of Americans who believed
the elective Executive a defect in our COnstitu
ton which must be evaded OF removed, on the 25th
of June of the same year wrote to the President
from Paris where ne was then residing Minister,
as follows: o,., -, ,-o,


A. TO your reaeceptance. Sir, you know my senti-
nents which, that, on some other subjects are
have successor when IL shall please God to call you
from this worlds theater IL such successor Is tnen