"Friends and Fellow-Citizens,

"Called upon to undertake the duties of the "first executive office of our country, I avail

myself of the presence of that portion of my "fellow-citizens, which is here assembled, to express my grateful thanks for the favour "with which they have been pleased to look "( towards me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and "that I approach it with those anxious and "awful presentiments, which the greatness of "the charge, and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread

over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all "the seas with the rich productions of their "industry; engaged in commerce with nations "who feel power and forget right, advancing

rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mor(( tal eye; when I contemplate these transcendant objects, and see the honour, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of "this day, I shrink from the contemplation, "and humble myself before the magnitude of "the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I

despair, did not the presence of many whom "I here see remind me, that in the other high "authorities provided by our Constitution, I "shall here find resources of wisdom, of vir

tue, and of zeal, on which to rely under all "difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who

are charged with the sovereign functions of "legislation, and to those associated with you, "I look with encouragement for that guidance

and support, which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which all are em"barked, amidst the conflicting elements of a "troubled world.

"During the contest of opinion through "which we have passed, the animation of dis(( cussions and exertions has sometimes worn

an aspect which might impose on strangers "unused to think freely, and to speak and to "write what they think; but this being now "decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will of course arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in one common effort for the common good. "All too will bear in mind this sacred prin"ciple, that, though the will of the majority is

in all cases to prevail, that will to be right"ful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws "must protect; and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite "with one heart and one mind; let us restore "to social intercourse that harmony and affec

tion, without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things; and let us reflect, that having banished from our land "that religious intolerance under which man

"kind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance, as despotic, as wicked, as capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood "and slaughter his long lost liberty, it was not "wonderful that the agitation of the billows, should reach even this distant and peaceful "shore, that this should be more felt, and feared by some and less by others, and should "divide opinions, as to measures of safety; "but every difference of opinion is not a dif(6 ference of principle. We have called by

different names brethren of the same prin"ciple. We are all republicans, all federal"ists. If there be any among us who would (6 wish to dissolve this union, or to change its "republican form, let them stand undisturbed

as monuments of the safety, with which error "of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a Republican "Government cannot be strong, that this "Government is not strong enough. But "would the honest, in the full tide of success

ful experiment, abandon a Government, "which has so far kept us free and firm, in the "theoretic and visionary fear, that this Government, the world's best hope, may, by pos

"sibility, want energy to preserve itself? I

trust not; I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one, where every man at the call of "the law, would fly to the standard of the law, "and would meet invasions of the public "order, as his own personal concern. Let us then, with courage and confidence pursue our own federal and republican principles; our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean, from the exterminating havoc “of one quarter of the globe, too high-minded "to endure the degradations of the others; "possessing a chosen country, with room

enough for descendants to the thousandth and "ten thousandth generation; entertaining a "due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisition of our own "industry, to honour and confidence from our (( fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but "from our actions; and their sense of them en'lightened by a benign religion,-professed

indeed, and practised in various forms, yet "all of them inculcating honesty, truth, tem(( perance, gratitude, and the love of man" acknowledging and adoring an over-ruling "Providence, which by all its dispensations, proves that it delights in the happiness of man here, and his greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is

necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citi

zens; a wise and frugal Government, which "shall restrain men from injuring one an

other, shall leave them otherwise free to "regulate their own pursuits and improve66 ment, and shall not take from the mouth of "labour the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend every thing dear and valuable to you, it is proper (6 you should understand what I deem the es"sential principles of our Government, and "consequently those which ought to shape its "administration. I will compress them within "the narrowest compass they will bear; stat'ing the general principle, but not all its "limitations:-Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, reli"gious or political; peace, commerce, and hon

est friendship with all nations; entangling "alliances with none; the support of State "Governments in all their rights, as the most competent administration for our domestic

concerns, and the surest bulwarks against "anti-republican tendencies; the preservation "of the general Government in its whole "constitutional vigour, as the sheet-anchor of "our peace at home and safety abroad; a