luence were offered for their approbation. The strong
hold which Washington had taken of the affections of his countrymen
was, on this occasion, fully evinced. In districts where the
opposition to his administration was most powerful, where all his
measures were most loudly condemned, where those who approved his
system possessed least influence, the men who appeared to control
public opinion on every other subject, found themselves unable to move
it on this. Even the most popular among the leaders of the opposition
were reduced to the necessity of surrendering their pretensions to a
place in the electoral body, or of pledging themselves to bestow their
suffrage on the actual President. The determination of his fellow
citizens had been unequivocally manifested, and it was believed to be
apparent that the election would again be unanimous, when he announced
his resolution to withdraw from the honours and the toils of office.

Having long contemplated this event, and having wished to terminate
his political course with an act which might be at the same time
suitable to his own character, and permanently useful to his country,
he had prepared for the occasion a valedictory address, in which, with
the solicitude of a person, who, in bidding a final adieu to his
friends, leaves his affections and his anxieties for their welfare
behind him, he made a last effort to impress upon his countrymen those
great political truths which had been the guides of his own
administration, and could alone, in his opinion, form a sure and solid
basis for the happiness, the independence, and the liberty of the
United States.

This interesting paper was published in September, at a time when
hopes were entertained that the discontents of France might be
appeased by proper representations. It contains precepts to which the
American statesman can not too frequently recur, and though long, is
thought too valuable to be omitted or abridged.

[Sidenote: General Washington's valedictory address to the people of
the United States in which he declines being considered as a candidate
for the presidency.]

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.

"Friends and fellow citizens,

"The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the
executive government of the United States being not far distant, and
the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in
designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust,
it appears t