e attorney-general, and transmit the opinion of the cabinet to him as
early as possible. The whole affair, he had no doubt, was intended to
place him "in an embarrassed situation." The cabinet members, after
consultation, wrote out replies to the Boston authorities in accordance
with their views, and sent them to the president. He weighed them
carefully, and on the twenty-eighth of July he addressed the following
letter to the selectmen of Boston:--[82]

"In every act of my administration I have sought the happiness of
my fellow-citizens. My system for the attainment of this object has
uniformly been to overlook all personal, local, and partial
considerations; to contemplate the United States as one great
whole; to consider that sudden impressions, when erroneous, would
yield to candid reflection; and to consult only the substantial and
permanent interests of our country.

"Nor have I departed from this line of conduct, on the occasion
which has produced the resolutions contained in your letter of the
thirteenth instant.

"With a predilection for my own judgment, I have weighed with
attention every argument which has at any time been brought into
view. But the constitution is the guide, which I never can abandon.
It has assigned to the president the power of making treaties, with
the advice and consent of the senate. It was doubtless supposed
that these two branches of government would combine, without
passion, and with the best means of information, those facts and
principles upon which the success of our foreign relations will
always depend; that they ought not to substitute for their own
conviction the opinions of others, or to seek truth through any
channel but that of a temperate and well-informed investigation.

"Under this persuasion, I have resolved on the manner of executing
the duty before me. To the high responsibility attached to it I
freely submit; and you, gentlemen, are at liberty to make these
sentiments known as the grounds of my procedure. While I feel the
most lively gratitude for the many instances of approbation from my
country, I can no otherwise deserve it than by obeying the dictates
of my conscience."

To these noble sentiments Washington firmly adhered, and they were the
basis of his replies to all similar communications. Before this letter
was sent, W