And
these will give her again that place among nations which is proportioned
to her natural means, and which we all wish her to hold. We believe that
the just standing of all nations is the health and security of all. We
consider the overwhelming power of England on the ocean, and of France
on the land, as destructive of the prosperity and happiness of the
world, and wish both to be reduced only to the necessity of observing
moral duties. We believe no more in Bonaparte's fighting merely for the
liberty of the seas, than in Great Britain's fighting for the liberties
of mankind. The object of both is the same, to draw to themselves the
power, the wealth, and the resources of other nations. We resist the
enterprises of England first, because they first come vitally home to
us. And our feelings repel the logic of bearing the lash of George the
III. for fear of that of Bonaparte at some future day. When the wrongs
of France shall reach us with equal effect, we shall resist them
also. But one at a time is enough: and having offered a choice to the
champions, England first takes up the gauntlet.

The English newspapers suppose me the personal enemy of their nation. I
am not so. I am an enemy to its injuries, as I am to those of France. If
I could permit myself to have national partialities, and if the conduct
of England would have permitted them to be directed towards her,
they would have been so. I thought that, in the administration of Mr.
Addington, I discovered some dispositions towards justice, and even
friendship and respect for us, and began to pave the way for cherishing
these dispositions, and improving them into ties of mutual good will.
But we had then a federal minister there, whose dispositions to believe
himself, and to inspire others with a belief, in our sincerity, his
subsequent conduct has brought into doubt; and poor Merry, the English
minister here, had learned nothing of diplomacy but its suspicions,
without head enough to distinguish when they were misplaced. Mr.
Addington and Mr. Fox passed away too soon to avail the two countries
of their dispositions. Had I been personally hostile to England,
and biassed in favor of either the character or views of her great
antagonist, the affair of the Chesapeake put war into my hand. I had
only to open it, and let havoc loose. But if ever I was gratified
with the possession of power, and of the confidence of those who had
entrusted me with it, it was on that occas