, should be seen in opposite lights. It is for the future
historian, when what now remains of prejudice and misconception shall
have passed away, to state these different opinions, and pronounce
impartial judgment. In the mean time, all good men rejoice, and well
may rejoice, that the sharpest differences sprung out of measures which,
whether right or wrong, have ceased with the exigencies that gave them
birth, and have left no permanent effect, either on the constitution or
on the general prosperity of the country. This remark, I am aware, may
be supposed to have its exception in one measure, the alteration of the
constitution as to the mode of choosing President; but it is true in its
general application. Thus the course of policy pursued toward France
in 1798, on the one hand, and the measures of commercial restriction
commenced in 1807, on the other, both subjects of warm and severe
opposition, have passed away and left nothing behind them. They were
temporary, and whether wise or unwise, their consequences were limited
to their respective occasions. It is equally clear, at the same
time, and it is equally gratifying, that those measures of both
administrations which were of durable importance, and which drew after
them interesting and long remaining consequences, have received general
approbation. Such was the organization, or rather the creation, of
the navy, in the administration of Mr. Adams; such the acquisition
of Louisiana, in that of Mr. Jefferson. The country, it may safely be
added, is not likely to be willing either to approve, or to reprobate,
indiscriminately, and in the aggregate, all the measures of either,
or of any, administration. The dictate of reason and justice is, that,
holding each one his own sentiments on the points in difference, we
imitate the great men themselves in the forbearance and moderation which
they have cherished, and in the mutual respect and kindness which they
have been so much inclined to feel and to reciprocate.

No men, fellow-citizens, ever served their country with more entire
exemption from every imputation of selfish and mercenary motives, than
those to whose memory we are paying these proofs of respect. A suspicion
of any disposition to enrich themselves, or to profit by their public
employments, never rested on either. No sordid motive approached them.
The inheritance which they have left to their children is of their
character and their fame.

Fellow-citizens, I wil